Caldwell starts construction on Indian Creek Plaza

Teya Vitu//April 11, 2017

Indian Creek Plaza will become Caldwell community gathering place. Image courtesy of GGLO Design.

Caldwell began construction April 10 on its Indian Creek Plaza downtown revitalization. The project should be ready for winter use before the end of the year.

Indian Creek Plaza will serve as a setting for outdoor ice skating setting in winter, and as a plaza, splash pad, concert and event venue in summer.

The $6.5 million project at the corner of Arthur Street and Kimball Avenue is funded by the Caldwell Urban

In winter, Indian Creek Plaza in Caldwell will have an outdoor skating rink. Image courtesy of GGLO Design.

Renewal Agency. It’s also getting $1 million from the city of Caldwell to pay for capital costs that don’t qualify for urban renewal funding.

The business improvement district established by the Caldwell City Council in 2016 will pay for programming, maintenance and management of Indian Creek Plaza. The district includes 371 properties on 83 city blocks, roughly bounded by Dearborn, Second, 12th, Chicago and Belmont streets with a street between 9th and 11th streets extending to Galveston Street.

The first $207,000 BID assessment was sent out in early February with $163,000 collected by March 30, said Kelli Jenkins, president of Destination Caldwell, the nonprofit volunteer organization administering and managing the BID and Indian Creek Plaza.

Indian Creek Plaza in Caldwell will have splash pads, fire calderas and a covered stage. Image courtesy of GGLO Design. — Indian Creek Plaza in Caldwell will have splash pads in summer, fire calderas and a covered stage. Image courtesy of GGLO Design.

Property owners in the BID’s inner tier are assessed 1/3 percent of their assessed value and outer tier properties are assessed at ¼ percent. Assessments are capped at $5,000, Jenkins said.

Destination Caldwell will post the job opening for a paid executive director in May. Jenkins believes Destination Caldwell will have three other full-time paid staff and two part-time paid staff.

The Caldwell City Council on April 3 approved Boise-based McAlvain Construction as the construction manager/general contractor to build Indian Creek Plaza, which was designed by Seattle-based GGLO Design.

Indian Creek Plaza will have a small ice rink with two ice “ribbons” or paths leading off the rink that circle the plaza. The ice rink will convert into a splash pad in summer.

Three fire calderas and five cabanas will dot the plaza, and a covered stage will offer a concert venue for 300 to 500 people. Streets can be blocked off for events with up too 10,000 attendees, Jenkins said.

Jenkins expects the city’s Winter Wonderland to be staged at Indian Creek Plaza in December 2018. She also sees the plaza becoming an extension of the Indian Creek Festival, which is stage along Indian Creek, an earlier downtown revitalization effort. The plaza may also play a part in the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce’s Night Light Parade, Jenkins said.