EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke has undertaken countless projects during his tenure. When he was first elected, he wanted to rebuild Roberts Park.
“Certainly hope there will be activity at Roberts Park in 2023,” Mayor Winnecke. “We anticipate that we’ll have renderings of the new park entrance before long.”
His final year as mayor is 2023, and he plans to continue working up until his final day in office. That includes working on both old and new projects for the city.
“So our vision, and that’s why it’s called rivervision, is to really reimagine what the riverfront looks like,” Mayor Winnecke said.
He says the city is hoping to develop part of the riverfront, but is still in the beginning phase. The READI grant money they received recently will not only benefit that, but also help with affordable housing at the Karges lofts.
“Have we made progress? Yes. But it doesn’t end because we got some shiny new facilities,” Mayor Winnecke said. “We have to keep the focus on affordable housing.”
Heading back to the riverfront, Mayor Winnecke says the sunrise pump station was just the beginning. He hopes to keep the ball rolling on a new water treatment plant on Waterworks Road.
“We can’t do any work there until we can relocate the street maintenance garage to a new location,” Mayor Winnecke said. “We chose that location because of its proximity to the river.”
A big conversation piece in the middle of the downtown area: 420 Main Street.
“Everyone thought the wise thing to do was pause, versus starting a project and letting it stop halfway because of the economy,” Mayor Winnecke said.
Mayor Winnecke says the original project had to be revised with inflation hurting the developers. The park is still a part of the end goal, but the building layout could look different.
“We fully anticipate breaking ground on a new $50 – $60 million development at fifth and main this year,” Mayor Winnecke said.
Mayor Winnecke said they’ve already assembled a team ready to brief the new mayor on current projects when the time comes.
“I have every confidence that our successor will have all the information that they need to continue the success of the city,” Mayor Winnecke said.
In his final year, Mayor Winnecke says more projects and more announcements could be on the way.
“If we have some success, we’ll be able to announce some significant developments yet this year about new projects,” Mayor Winnecke said.
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