Work starts next week on Cleveland’s Public Square

CLEVELAND

Work is slated to start next week on a major renovation of Cleveland’s Public Square downtown.

The city and the nonprofit Downtown Cleveland Alliance said that construction fences would go up around the square next Monday.

Public Square — the historic and symbolic heart of the city — will get a sweeping $32 million face lift. It will be complete by the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland in summer 2016.

A new traffic plan was announced Monday that will be in place until the construction is over.

The design includes park-like spaces, an “event lawn,” corner gardens on the north side, an outdoor cafe, programmable splash zone, speaker’s terrace and fresh landscaping around the 1894 Soldiers and Sailors Monument.