Boston City Hall Plaza Ready for a Makeover

The city of Boston is preparing to reconfigure City Hall Plaza, "with the goal of significantly transforming the brick expanse into an enlivened space intended to change the way residents view, and use, their city government," according to Milton J. Valencia.

Officials from the Mayor Martin J. Walsh Adiminsirration announced final designs for the project earlier this week. Here's how Valencia describes the vision for the plaza:

Picture a civic engagement building for community group meetings on the plaza’s north side. It would be located alongside an open play area and by a water-wall-lined promenade that leads to an event space fronting Cambridge Street.

In the winter months, there’s a skating rink in the middle of the plaza — and in the summer, a farmer’s market. Passersby can stop for a moment under one of the 100 trees set to be planted — a colorful contrast to the current red brick desert.

The city hopes to launch construction on infrastructure updgrades this fall, with phase I of the reconstruction commencing in the spring.