Development: Canal Refurb Project Pulled

In what is fast becoming a pattern, the $3.2M refurb project of the Ohio St. basin of the Downtown Canal has been pulled until Mayor-elect Ballard and his team can take a look at the proposal. This proposal is months old -- renderings for the project are dated 04.30.07 -- but I first read of this over at Property Lines on November 19th and now, just 10 days later, it's already being shelved.

As the Star notes, the Ohio St. basin is one of the oldest sections of Canal and it certainly could use some attention. The City did some half-assed work on the crumbling steps about a year ago and it looks terrible. But $3.2M? That seems like an awfully high price tag, especially given the crumbling infrastructure all over the City. Compared to some road surfaces and neighborhood sidewalks, this area of the canal is practically brand new and perfectly serviceable.

The Star has a 7-page, 1.3MB PDF of the proposal available here.