Nearing The Home Stretch

Work will be wrapping up for the season within the next few weeks in Public lots 2 & 3. There is still a bit of landscaping work that needs to be done including stone walking paths in the islands and a few additional plantings. The trees and larger plants are in and they look fantastic. Light poles should start to go up later this week; the refurbished poles are going to look great on the new decorative concrete bases. Once the landscaping and lighting is completed we are left with only needing to mill, pave and stripe. Unfortunately milling, paving and striping is going to have to wait until the spring of 2012. Temperatures are already below the minimum temperature required to pave. By the end of this week both lots 2 & 3 and Grove Street will be patched where underground work was completed for lighting and storm sewer work.
The lots will be open and cleaned-up for the Downtown Hollyday Open Houses this weekend.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as improvements are being made.
As always if you have questions or concerns please contact Joel Maurer, Engineer for the City of DeKalb at 815-748-2000 or Lindsey Engelsman at the Re:New DeKalb office at 815-748-7788.

Trees, Trees & More Trees

The landscapers are here today working in lots 2 & 3. They are hard at work planting trees and other plants in the lot as well as finishing it off with a layer of mulch. We love days like today when a lot of visible changes are being made in the lots! Also in the next few days you should begin to see the refurbished light poles from Lincoln Hwy being installed onto the new concrete light bases. After that will be milling, paving and striping.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as improvements are being made.
As always if you have questions or concerns please contact Joel Maurer, Engineer for the City of DeKalb at 815-748-2000 or Lindsey Engelsman at the Re:New DeKalb office at 815-748-7788.

and we're walking....

Things in Public lots 2 & 3 will begin to take a more visual turn over the next few work days.
There are crews here today forming up where the new concrete for the curbs and sidewalks will be poured. The plan is to pour on curbs and concrete on Friday and Monday (as long as the rain stays away).
Lighting is coming along....all concrete light bases have been poured and are curing. Watch for light poles to be installed on the bases soon. The light poles will look familiar as they are the poles that were on Lincoln Hwy. They've been re purposed and will be installed on the new concrete bases.
Landscaping will begin to be installed next week was well. This project includes a lot of landscaping on the perimeter of the lots as well as in what were the concrete islands.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as improvements are being made.
As always if you have questions or concerns please contact Joel Maurer, Engineer for the City of DeKalb at 815-748-2000 or Lindsey Engelsman at the Re:New DeKalb office at 815-748-7788.

Moving Right Along

Things are moving right along in Lots 2 & 3. Virgil Cook & Sons continues to work at installing all the necessary underground work for the new lighting and expect to begin pouring concrete bases later this week in both Lots 2 & 3. Along with concrete bases comes replacement of concrete sidewalks and curbs!
Storm Sewer work is scheduled to begin in Lot3 this Thursday, October 13th. Because of where the storm sewer is located this work will require a closure on Grove St. between 4th and 3rd Streets. Work is expected to take one day.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation as improvements are being made.
As always if you have questions or concerns please contact Joel Maur, Engineer for the City of DeKalb at 815-748-2000 or Lindsey Engelsman at the Re:New DeKalb office at 815-748-7788.

Out With The Old

We are moving right along with improvements in Public Lots 2 & 3. The old lighting has been removed in both lots and temporary lighting has gone up. You can expect continued work this week in both lots by Elliott and Wood on the removal of concrete in the medians and portions of sidewalks around the lots. Virgil Cook will be busy this week in lot 3 with underground work for the permanent lighting. You can expect partial lot closures while both crews are working, but will still be able to access portions of the lot.
As always if you have questions or concerns please contact Joel Maur, Engineer for the City of DeKalb at 815-748-2000 or Lindsey Engelsman at the Re:New DeKalb office at 815-748-7788.

Public Improvements Scheduled for Downtown Lots 2 & 3

Work to Begin September 12, 2011

The City of DeKalb is preparing for the next round of downtown public improvements. Work in Public Lot 2 (behind the Chamber/Chesapeake Bagel Bakery) and Lot 3 (corner of Grove and 3rd/4th) is scheduled to begin on Monday, September 12th. As always communication will be a critical element. Re:New DeKalb is committed to providing business/property owners with up to date information and assistance throughout this project. To keep business/property owners informed Re:New DeKalb will post regular updates on this blog, host regular construction meetings for business/property owners and residents, send out email notifications and coordinate with the local media to ensure the public is informed about access and encouraged to keep visiting our businesses during construction. RNDK will also coordinate with the City of DeKalb and contractors to ensure visible signage is in place notifying downtown visitors where to park and how to access the businesses. In addition to the City of DeKalb Engineering Department, the RNDK office will also serve as a point of communication for business/property owners throughout the project.If you have questions about the project please contact Lindsey at Re:New DeKalb, 815-748-7788 or City Engineer Joel Maurer at 815-748-2000.

As was presented at the June Rise & Revitalize Meeting the Project will include resurfacing of the lots, new lighting, landscaping to include trees, shrubs and planters, curb and sidewalk repair and replacement and some underground storm sewer work. We know these lots are important to your business and customers. As a reminder construction is to be staged so that the lots remain open at the end of each day. Areas not actively under construction will remain open to public use. The project will begin Monday, September 12 and is scheduled to be completed the first week of November. (This could changed due to weather)


Estimated Schedule Starting September 12, 2011
*work on Lots 2&3 will happen simultaneously
*Schedule subject to change

• September 12-September 16: Temporary Lighting Installation
This will require some parking spot closures as they remove current poles and install temporary lighting.
• September 19-October 14: Permanent Lighting Installation
• September 26-September 30: Concrete Removal
Lot 2- Sidewalks will be removed along the north side of the lot in front of Chesapeake, Feed ‘em Soup and The Church. Sidewalks will also be removed on the South side of the lot from 1st Street to 2nd Street. Access to businesses will be maintained at all times.
Concrete Islands in lot will also be removed.
Lot 3- The 2 large concrete islands that run the length of the lot will be removed. The raised walks on the perimeter of the east and west sides of the lot will be removed.
• October 3-7 scheduled to take about 3 days): Storm Sewer Work
Lot 2-Access to lot 2 from N. 1st street may be limited during this work
Lot 3- Access to lot 3 from E. Grove may be limited during this work
• October 17-October 21 (scheduled to take 3 days): Concrete Replacement
While sidewalks are being poured and until cured access to businesses will be disrupted. Access to businesses along the north side of the lot in front of Chesapeake, Feed ‘em Soup and The Church will either have entrances ramped or pedestrian traffic will be detoured to the entrance on N 1st street.
• October 24-October 28: Temporary Lighting Removed
• October 24-October 28: Landscaping
Trees, bushes and planters will be installed throughout both lots. Concrete islands will be replaced with landscaped areas with trees and plantings.
• October 31-November 4: Mill, Pave and Stripe Lots
Partial closures will be required as lots are milled, paved and striped. Lots will not be closed all day and will be reopened as work is completed.

Construction Update as of May 11, 2011

What a difference a week makes! ComEd has completed the utility pole removal on Locust Street and we are working to finish up the remainaing tasks. Here is what you can expect for the next week:


Concrete and patch work - Alliance will be patching all the sidewalk locations where utility poles were removed as well as some alley patch work start on Wednesday of this week through next week.

Landscaping/Street furniture - Week of May 16

Brick banding installation - Week of May 23

Crosswalk painting - TBD based on weather, but we should see stamp work being done on Locust early next week followed by painting. Some additional material needs to be removed in the cross walk areas on Lincoln and then painting can begin.

Wired

Here are a few images of Locust Street during construction with the overhead wires still in place...

What A Difference

As of today only 6 poles remain on Locust Street. What a difference.

As you can tell we have made good progress since our post earlier this week. ComEd is moving right along. We have also had good progress on Lincoln Hwy with the removal of the failed crosswalk product. Next up concrete work and (we hope) warmer days so we can finish up the landscaping and paint the crosswalks.

Spring is Here!

Spring has sprung and work is back in full force on Locust Street.

Here is what is planned for the next few days...weeks:

GENERAL CONTRACTOR

Alliance has poured all the concrete available until the poles are removed. They are currently relocating the VB Plaza sign. They will begin cleaning up the lot at Locust and First late this week or early next week. Work will include removing the gravel, installing dirt, grading and then seeding. Once poles are removed by ComEd, they will return to finish concrete work.


FRONTIER:
All Froniter wires and poles should be removed as of Wednesday of this week.


COMED
Com Ed has made the last tie late last week and all power is now on the underground system. They are to start on May 4th removing the wire on the north side of Locust Street. They will be removing hardware off poles 1 block per day from 1st to 4th. At times there will be a 1 lane closures with 2 flaggers so road will never be fully closed. At times there will be sidewalk obstructions as wire comes down. All hardware is anticipated to be removed by Friday.

LANDSCAPE
Landscaper will be in the week of May 16th after all plants and shrubs are dug in the nursery.

CROSSWALKs
William Charles started removing failed materials today at the 3rd Street intersection They will continue to remove the failed product throughout this week. Once temperatures reach 50 and rising for 8hr periods they will begining painting the crosswalks with Streetbond 150. This is a special paint used for painting on streets. This is the same treatment as used on Annie Glidden Road. No thermoplast will be reinstalled.

As always, please contact Re:New DeKalb with any questions at 815-748-7788 or email jennifer@renewdekalb.com