GREEN BAY — The expected pep and vigor of the NFL draft event at Leicht Memorial Park will come and go, but the city hopes to keep the park along the Fox River a bustling attraction long afterward — emphasis on “attraction.”
On Wednesday evening, the Parks Committee approved ditching the original facelift of Leicht Park for a redesigned one, which will go to City Council for the final OK on Jan. 21. The difference from the initial plan: the 3,400-square-foot pavilion is now, in the words of council member Brian Johnson, “infinitely more desirable” than the original sketch by I&S Group, Inc.
The first concept was so unappealing to those who saw it that the Parks Department asked I&S Group to halt the concept and reevaluate, Parks Director Dan Ditscheit told the Wednesday committee.
“We really wanted a facility that’s a showcase for the city so when they drive across the bridge, they say, ‘Wow, that’s really unique and special,'” Johnson said from the public gallery to the Parks Committee. His organization, On Broadway Inc., has already raised $350,000 that will help fund the project’s third and final phase, he said.
Original drawing of Leicht Park improvements that show a pavilion, stage, pier, and stairs leading to the Fox River.
Alternative proposed Leicht Park improvements that feature a pavilion, pier, stage, and stairs leading to the Fox River.
The multi-disciplinary design firm “stands eager and ready to assist” with the city’s aspirations, according to engineering bid documents presented Jan. 15 to the Parks Committee. They come with a new price tag of $505,000 — plus the cost of time and materials — in order for I&S Group to:
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Complete the park’s design and cost projections in coordination with city staff for $148,590.
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Prepare construction documents for $198,948.
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Navigate permits for $11,900.
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Administer bids out to contractors $15,062.
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Surveille some of the construction for an estimated $130,000, plus time and materials.
These engineering expenses would be $280,000 more than if the city continued with the original plan, Ditscheit told the committee.
The construction costs for the first two phases — new pavilion, biergarten, landscaping, and associated stormwater management — is estimated to cost $3.6 million. Ditscheit said that’s $400,000 more than the costs for the initial project rendering.
The required additional funding, Ditscheit and Johnson said, would come out of the taxes collected from new property value along Broadway and downtown Green Bay that have gone into Tax Incentive District 5, which the city is obligated to spend before the district closes in December 2026, according to Johnson. That date when the money stops flowing sets a hard deadline for the pavilion’s construction to be completed.
Ground can’t be broken until after the NFL draft, however, the bid document says. The part will be used for the Draft City Music Fest.
The park will first need its contaminated soil removed, refilled, and left to sit for six months, which is the project’s first phase. Immediately after, according to the document, the project’s second phase will begin.
And until additional funding is secured with the help of On Broadway, the third phase of the project that would include the waterfront stairs (if deemed viable in the final design) and contemporary stage will not be bid out, according to the document.
“The pressure is on,” said Parks Committee chair Melinda Eck after her committee OK’d the new plan.
Anticipated phases 1, 2, and 3 renderings for Leicht Park in Green Bay, Wis.
Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. Contact him at 920-834-4250 or jlin@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Parks Committee approves revisions to Leicht Memorial Park design