CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) — A Champaign construction project could soon be concluding. In this week’s Meet the Mayor, Mayor Deborah Feinen explains more about the project aimed at growing the future of downtown Champaign.

“We have a couple of phases and the first phase should be done end of May, we actually moved that first phase to accommodate our local businesses. So it’s a collaborative process,” Feinen said.

There are several restaurants and organizations in that area as well that utilize the street space.

“For example, we worked with Big Grove and had seating along the street instead of seating on the plaza,” Feinen said. “When we first started construction, we also adjusted the time frames so that they could have some big football weekends before we started tearing up the plaza.”

Feinen said the summer is the current time frame that they expect to be able to use the Plaza, with Phase 2 starting again in the fall.

“We’re straddling the business needs with getting the work done. We also have some residents because downtown is also a space where people live,” Feinen added.