A timeline of Designing Downtown Denison

Herald Democrat

October 2016 — Work on visioning and conceptual work for Designing Downtown Denison takes place with Toole Design Group. These efforts include public input meetings alongside smaller stakeholder meetings to gather input. From these meetings, consultants created early drafts of what downtown Denison could look like.

Late 2016 — TIRZ #3 is created to finance the improvements along main Street. A portion of property tax revenues for 945-acres in downtown is set aside specifically for downtown improvement projects.

March 2017 — Denison retains Toole Design Group to continue work on the initial design phase.

An artist rendering shows designs for improvements to Main Street that saw development in 2020, with construction expected to begin in January 2021.

Feb. 2018 — Denison issues $1 million in debt for the design of phase 1, which will run from Houston Street toward Rusk.

March 2018 — Denison signs $800,000 contract with tool design group to do engineering for D3 Phase 1.

Nov. 2019 — Denison presents finalized plans for the first phase to the public.

An artist rendering shows early plans for the new Design of Main Street in Denison. The city is prepared to invest $16.83 million in the first phase of improvements.

April 2020 — City staff speculate that the project could be delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which threatened to cause significant budget woes for the city.

June 2020 — Denison hires Piazza construction as a construction manager at risk.

Denison held its Designing Downtown Denison groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday.

Jan 26, 2021 — City breaks ground on Phase 1 of the D3 project.

Feb. 2021 — The city is expected to issue debt for the first phase using funding from the TIRZ to finance it.