Birdtown Getting Some Fancy Upgrades

Clarification: The city's next meeting to discuss Birdtown plans is expected to take place the "week of Sept. 23." A location for the meeting hasn't yet been selected.

Next year, all of Madison Avenue is getting repaved and the city will begin a traffic signalization project as well as improvements to the city’s municipal parking lots.

But ahead of all of that, the Birdtown neighborhood is getting about $27,000 in upgrades along the commercial corridor.

Think new benches, customized Birdtown signs, fancy bus shelters and trash bins.

City council recently accepted a one-time grant from Charter One Bank, which agreed to pay $27,000 for the improvements.

The city’s match is paying for the installation of the upgrades.

City planner Bryce Sylvester said that work could begin as soon as this fall.

“It’s functional to start now as the weather starts to turn,” he said. 

The city has partnered on the corridor's improvement plan with the economic development organization LakewoodAlive — which recently installed flower boxes to several areas business — and Charter One to improve the neighborhood.

The bank will pay for two custom bus shelters, incorporating Birdtown graphics into the design; none bird-themed bike racks; a dozen Birdtown signs; six benches; and three trash receptacles.

The city and LakewoodAlive are set to host a community meeting the week of Sept. 23.

The first meeting took place last month at the Madison Avenue branch of the Lakewood Public Library .

More action on Madison Avenue

“There’s a lot of economic activity in this commercial corridor,” Sylvester said. “And you have a residential neighborhood that we think is poised for growth.”

The city has taken notice. Here are some of the other plans slated for Madison:

• Repaving of the entire stretch of Madison Avenue is expected in the summer of 2014.
• Improved bike infrastructure is also coming to the street.
• Traffic signalization, not unlike Clifton Boulevard and Detroit Avenue.
• The city also has plans to repave and restripe parking lots on Madison Avenue.

“Development is happening in clusters,” added Sylvester. 

“What we’re seeing is that there are business owners that are looking to open up their business on Madison, and they want to buy the buildings. That shows us that there’s some stability because they want to make a long-term investment.”