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NEWS

Rodney Square gets makeover too

Karl Baker, and TyLisa C. Johnson
The News Journal
A rendering of the new bus shelter in Rodney Square is shown. A group of private-public investors are planning renovations to the space in downtown Wilmington, it was announced Wednesday.

The Hotel DuPont is not the only downtown Wilmington landmark receiving a facelift.

Across Market Street from the historic hotel, Rodney Square is getting new lighting, security cameras and relocated bus shelters equipped with electronic kiosks. The plan, hatched by DART, the group Downtown Visions, the city of Wilmington and developer Buccini/Pollin Group, is designed to make the area safer and to make buses move quicker past the park.

DART will contribute up to $500,000 for construction. While designs for the overhaul have been hit with delays, bus riders should be able to seek shelter at the new bus stops by the end of the year, said DART CEO John Sisson. The shelters will be placed along King Street at 10th and 11th streets.

"Design has taken longer than anticipated, but it is our intent to have the new shelters in place before winter," he said.

After the project is completed, bus service can be expanded in the area, while avoiding clusters of buses around Rodney Square, officials have said. "Too many buses line up along the park, idling their engines and creating unpleasant pollution," said Martin Hageman, executive director of Downtown Visions, earlier in the year.

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The construction will update past efforts to make Rodney Square more inviting, officials have said. In 1990, a similar group of government and private interests, led by the Garden Club of Wilmington, also made it a goal to restore Rodney Square, but the park has been the site of various crimes during past years.

In September, a man was stabbed to death while protecting a young mother and her baby from a knife-wielding attacker.

Rodney Square is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Officials said a cafe will eventually be built at the park, but first will come the lighting, landscaping and bus shelters.

"We are currently finalizing the design of the new bus shelters and their foundations and expect to have them completed for bidding in August," Sisson said.

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.