5 projects reshaping Greenwood

Greenwood is seeing a wave of new road work, buildings and projects that are shaping the city for generations to come.

These projects show the city is shrugging off its old image as a sleepy suburb with low taxes and a big shopping mall.

"We're a progressive, motivated and forward moving city," Mayor Mark Myers said. "We want to bring more people and businesses to the area."

Here are five projects, some completed and others still underway, that are instrumental in Greenwood's transformation.

1. Greenwood City Center

Address: 300 S. Madison Ave.

Cost: $6.2 million.

Details: The city paid $2 million to buy a foreclosed office building and another $4.2 million to transform it into the city's headquarters. The City Center opened in August 2014 and has set an example for downtown investment. Revery, Greenwood's most talked about restaurant, has opened across the street.

2. Worthsville Road interchange

Location: I-65 and Worthsville Road.

Cost: $16 million.

Details: The diverging diamond interchange is scheduled to open in November. It is expected to open the mostly rural area on southeast side of Greenwood to commercial and industrial development. Greenwood is using tax increment financing district revenue to fund half the project's cost.

3. Roundabouts.

Location: Worthsville and Sheek roads; Main Street and Averitt Road; Smith Valley and Yorktown roads; Smith Valley and Madison Avenue; Smith Valley and Ind. 135 (dual roundabouts) and Honey Creek and Stones Crossing roads.

Cost: $11 million for seven roundabouts.

Details: Traffic circles aren't just for Carmel. Crews are building what will become Greenwood's first roundabout at Main Street and Averitt Road, expected to open in August. Another roundabout at Worthsville and Sheek roads is part of the city's $9.4 million overhaul of Worthsville Road. Smith Valley will get two more roundabouts on either side of Ind. 135 as part of a planned modified Michigan Left intersection. Roundabouts are reshaping Greenwood traffic.

4. Downtown revitalization.

Location: Downtown Greenwood.

Cost: To be determined.

Details: Last year the City Council endorsed a sweeping plan to revitalize the historic downtown area. The plan calls on the city to eliminate the narrow sidewalks, improve run-down buildings and divert heavy traffic away from the heart of downtown. Specific recommendations include:

• Eliminating turn lanes and building wider sidewalks at Madison Avenue and Main Street.

• Making downtown more attractive by adding brick pathways, decorative crosswalks, benches, trash containers, landscaping, planters, streetlights, bike racks and other amenities;

• Building new trails that connect downtown to area parks and extend north toward Greenwood Park Mall.

• Building a gathering place around the City Center with public art, a fountain or statue and an outdoor farmers market or entertainment venue.

• Beautifying and restoring Pleasant Creek to create a smaller version of the Canal Walk in Downtown Indianapolis.

5. Freedom Springs Aquatic Center

Cost: $10 million.

Details: Freedom Springs, which opened in May, is the biggest thing the city has seen since Simon Property Group put a roof and walls on Greenwood Park Mall in 1980. There's a lazy river, lap pool, diving boards and three of the tallest water slides in Central Indiana (40 feet each). Located in Freedom Park on the westside, Greenwood leaders see the new aquatic center as a long-overdue investment in quality of life, one they hope will help attract new residents and business investment to Greenwood.

Call Star reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @VicRyc.