On Saturday, October 10, the block of Fourth Street between Railroad and Cleveland avenues opened for one afternoon, and then it closed again. The contractor, Zak Dirt, had agreed to open the unfinished block so the Downtown Loveland Pumpkin Festival could use it as a farmers market, with pumpkin vendors and the city's mobile play trailer. When the festival ended at 5 p.m., the crews came back.
"We're really lucky that our contractor, Zak Dirt, is being so generous with this because it is creating a little bit of extra work for them," Lucy Waneka, the Loveland Downtown District's marketing and communications manager, told the Loveland Reporter-Herald.
The Pumpkin Festival started in 2020, and this was the first time it took over three blocks of Fourth Street. That borrowed afternoon also showed what the HIP Streets project was meant to produce. The new Fourth Street is still an ordinary through-street with traffic, but it was designed so the community can close it, decorate it and fill it on short notice. The next six weeks are the first real test of that design.
A street that stays open to cars
The Heart Improvement Plan, or HIP Streets, is a $24.5 million rebuild of Fourth Street between Washington and Garfield avenues. Work began in February 2025. If you've spent the last 20 months walking around fencing, you may have assumed the goal was a car-free promenade. The city says it wasn't. Its HIP Streets FAQ says an all-pedestrian, vehicle-free corridor was never considered and that Fourth Street will remain a through-street.
The changes are aimed at how the street works on an ordinary day and how quickly it can become something else on an event day:
- Wider sidewalks with an amenity zone for plantings, seating and art
- Parallel parking in place of the old diagonal stalls. The city projected 30 to 40 additional spaces around the corridor, one or two short-term drop-off spaces per block and ten ADA spaces along Fourth Street
- Patios, paver sidewalks, replanted trees and planters, according to the city and the Loveland Downtown District
- Sandstone pedestals at block corners for permanent public art
- String lights overhead that can be adjusted for each celebration
The string lights are the clearest sign of what the street was built for. In July, Downtown District executive director Sean Hawkins told the Reporter-Herald the lights could be set for whatever downtown is celebrating, and that next Fourth of July the street could glow red, white and blue. He described the finished corridor this way: "It still feels like the Fourth Street that we've known, but now it's a lot safer to get around, it's a lot more pedestrian-focused."
Where the work stands this week
The project is close to finished, but as of mid-October some of it is still open. The city's weekly project update for October 12 to 18, posted October 9, lists the following:
| Segment | Status for the week of Oct. 12 |
|---|---|
| Block 4, Cleveland to Railroad | Closed to vehicles. Businesses open to pedestrians. Punch-list work underway |
| BNSF railroad crossing | Fully closed to vehicles. Pedestrian crossings shifting with signage |
| Block 5, Garfield to Railroad | Vehicle access from Garfield only. Concrete sealing at Fourth and Garfield |
| Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 5 | Permanent sculptures being installed. Some parking spaces may close temporarily |
The schedule estimate has changed over the year. In late May, the Reporter-Herald reported that defective concrete panels on Block 3 were being replaced under warranty, and the final block was then forecast for "early next year." By July, the projection had moved to November. On September 21, HIP Streets project manager Shelley Aschenbrenner told the Reporter-Herald the project was still on track for November and that the railroad crossing replacement would not affect the schedule. She called the crossing work "one of the final pieces to completing this puzzle."
November is the planned finish. It hasn't happened yet. The holiday calendar has already been built around it.
The calendar is built around the finish line
When Hawkins discussed the timeline in July, he connected the end of construction to one event: "We're hoping that come Festival of Lights, we'll have a really beautiful celebration here on Fourth Street." The Downtown District's event page now says the festival will be held "on the newly completed 4th Street this year."
Here's how the season lines up, in order:
- Saturday, October 10. The Pumpkin Festival was the trial run. Jake Zimmer showed his latest Atlantic Giant on the Cleveland-to-Lincoln block, and Find Your Light Theatre ran a family-friendly haunted house on the Lincoln-to-Jefferson block.
- Friday, November 13. Centerra starts its own holiday season with a light-switch ceremony at Chapungu Sculpture Park from 5 to 7 p.m. Its daily All Is Bright Tour runs through January 1.
- Friday, November 20, 5 to 8 p.m. Downtown's Festival of Lights brings the holiday lighting debut, a tree lighting, live reindeer, carriage rides, Mr. and Mrs. Claus and a pop-up holiday art market from The Valentine Flea with more than 30 booths of local makers and vintage vendors.
- Saturday, December 5, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Centerra's holiday festival.
The Festival of Lights is also bringing back Floats on Fourth, and the format suits the rebuilt street. The Downtown District describes it as a stationary parade. Floats park along both sides of the street, the center stays open for walking, and marching bands and dancers perform along the route. The floats stay put and people walk past them. It's a good use of a street with wider sidewalks, parallel parking at the edges and lights that can be set for the night.
Centerra is on the same schedule
The Promenade Shops at Centerra is renovating on the same timeline. Galway Companies, Inc., which bought the center for $55 million, is updating facades and roofs, outdoor seating, gathering areas, Wi-Fi, landscaping, lighting and the I-25 monument sign. The Promenade's ice rink is being rebuilt as a more accessible, multipurpose space, with completion expected in November for the holidays.
Nine new tenants have been announced. MINISO, Christopher & Banks and Windsor are expected "this fall." JD Sports, Hot Topic, BoxLunch, Cabinet IQ, Hot Pot Grill and Los Dos Potrillos are anticipated by spring 2027. No individual opening dates have been published yet.
So both of Loveland's main gathering places are counting on finishing construction in November. Centerra lights Chapungu on November 13, and downtown turns on the Fourth Street lights seven days later.
The businesses that stayed through it
The street is the infrastructure, and the businesses along it are why people come. Many of them stayed open behind barricades for months. When the first rebuilt blocks reopened in November 2025, Shelby Carpenter, owner of Top Knot at 343 E. Fourth St., told the Reporter-Herald, "It looks so good out front of our shop," and praised the wider sidewalks and new lights. B Sweet Cupcakes at 425 E. Fourth St. was one of the shops Denver7 profiled in September 2025 for staying open through the work.
The Pumpkin Festival was organized partly with those shopkeepers in mind. Waneka told the Reporter-Herald the day was meant "to celebrate our downtown businesses, and to give people a glimpse into what Fourth Street is going to look like and feel like once everything is done."
One Block 3 address still has fencing for reasons unrelated to HIP Streets. On October 1, part of the roof at 225 E. Fourth St. collapsed after a support beam was struck during construction. That building is the future home of the Rio Grande Mexican restaurant. As a precaution, the neighboring Lighthouse Dance and Independence Gallery closed temporarily, and as of an October 6 Reporter-Herald follow-up officials had no estimate for when they would reopen. The city's current update lists a sidewalk closure at that address. Rio Grande is still slated to open early next year.
What's coming to the blocks nearby
New businesses are already arriving near the rebuilt street. In July, Urban Hot Pot opened at 500 N. Lincoln Ave. Brothers Jordan and Bruce Wu run it. It's Loveland's first hot pot restaurant, and it fills a space that had been empty for more than three years. Georgia Boys BBQ plans a downtown Loveland location for late spring 2027.
One longtime business has closed. Friendly Pawn at 200 N. Lincoln Ave. closed September 30 after 51 years, when owner Ray Steele Jr. retired from the shop his father founded.
If the November finish holds, the next time Fourth Street closes to cars it will be for a planned event, not construction. That's Friday, November 20, from 5 to 8 p.m., with floats parked along both curbs and the string lights turned on for the season.
When you're ready to talk about what downtown Loveland's new streetscape means for the homes around Fourth Street, from patios and walkability to the blocks closest to the new restaurants, Kayla Hickcox can help you sort through the tradeoffs calmly and clearly. Schedule a free consultation.
