The Downtown Mall Renewal project has been slowed by adjustments being made to the production of the pavers used on the Mall walkways. The adjustment has pushed back brick availability to Monday, January 26. "We expect to have bricks in and ready to use on Monday," said Barton Malow Project Manager Chris Weatherford.
The brick is coming in from Taylor Clay Products, Inc. (through their sister company, Old Virginia Brick) in Salisbury, NC. The slowdown apparently comes from the uniqueness of the pavers being used on the Mall. A 4" by 12" full paver is a product unique to our mall; the paver is not even in production anywhere else in the country. As they are working with a new product, the company apparently wanted a more perfect brick before moving forward.
The project would have been running ahead of schedule, according to Weatherford. "We would have been heading into Phase 4. But we have crews that can brick a half a block in one day; we’ll stay on schedule."
The crews have been at it indeed. Central Place should be open either tonight or Sunday, depending on whether crews have time to secure some temporary lighting to make the area safe. The 400 east block and the portion of the 200 east block in front of Angelo’s should be open—barriers down, bricks secured—for your walking pleasure next week.
In the meantime, keep your browsers at Brick Watch. We’ve found something on the Mall we know someone must be missing, and we’ll tell you all about it later this afternoon. Any guesses as to what it could be?
