Funding from the Red River Waterway Commission will allow Mayor Cedric Glover to move ahead with plans to revamp the downtown Shreveport riverfront.

Here's more from a Mayor's Office news release:

Construction along the riverfront just south of the Barnwell Center, 700 block of Clyde Fant Parkway, is likely to begin right around Nov. 1 with a projected end date of late March 2015.

The Shreveport Riverview Phase II has been contracted out to the ELA Group and the Red River Waterway Commission will oversee the project. Preconstruction meetings between representatives from the City, the contractor and Kevin Bryan, the architect, have been positive and no delays are anticipated.

The project has three major components:
· New 4,500-square-foot tensile fabric stage cover with color-changing LED lighting beneath the tensile fabric, creating an iconic feature along the riverfront.
· New 750-square-foot Green Room with bathroom and dressing room located close to the stage with easy access for performers.
· New 750-square-foot restrooms for men and women, located near the dancing fountains, for public use.

Mayor Glover said he is especially pleased to see this project moving forward because it represents the outcome that a citizen-led coalition envisioned back in 2009 when public meetings were held to establish a list of priorities for improvements to one of the city’s most scenic areas.

"This is an excellent result for the efforts these dedicated citizens made to helping improve the landscape along our riverfront," Mayor Glover said. "This is an area frequented by thousands and thousands of people so we need to do everything we can to make it as accommodating and aesthetically pleasing as possible."

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