Heart Improvement Plan Fourth Street work is nearly finished

PUBLISHED: October 25, 2026 at 6:54AM MDT by the Loveland Reporter Herald - SEE RH ARTICLE HERE
WRITTEN BY SEAN HAWKINS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

After a few decades of dreaming, two years of planning and 20 months of construction, I’m happy to report that the Heart Improvement Plan – Fourth Street Revitalization, is two weeks from completion. For me, having this project nearing completion is a very surreal feeling. It’s been quite the experience to take this project from a long-hoped-for community-driven idea, design all the features and work with a wonderful group of partners from the city of Loveland, our contractor Zak Dirt, the project management team from Ditesco Services and design services RVI Planning and CCG Civil to get it constructed. I want to use this month’s column to provide a few observations and thoughts about the project now that it’s nearing completion.

First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the hardships the construction project has caused the public, our businesses (with the impact felt far beyond Fourth Street) and property owners. I also want to thank everyone for their patience. Our small businesses in downtown are what provide the special experience that attracts locals and tourists today to drive our local economy. This construction project has challenged them in so many ways, whether it be a slowdown in sales, challenges in access, hearing directly from customers who are grumpy and curious about the construction and so many more. The Loveland community has a strong partiality to support local businesses, but the length of this construction project and the constant traffic or access changes have challenged the patience of the public. I understand it and feel it. And trust me, I’ve heard an earful almost every day for the last 20 months too.

Now that construction is nearly complete, we want to invite you downtown to enjoy the final product and connect with our businesses that need your support. When the block between Cleveland Avenue and Railroad Avenue was completed a few weeks ago, I was pretty emotional walking down the street that Friday night. A few business owners walked out to give hugs and shared their sense of joy about its completion. For me, I couldn’t help but think how much the street feels like the Fourth Street we’ve always loved and how we’ve made it better and safer.

For pedestrians, ​F​ourth Street has never been safer. It’s easier to cross our busiest intersections and the newly placed boulder seatwalls along the corridor add so many places to simply stop and enjoy our beautiful district. I’ve had a number of people tell me they’ve noticed more people riding their bikes downtown recently. We never had ample places for riders to lock their bike in the past and there are now very visible bike racks in each block.

Our feeling of safety on Fourth Street has been enhanced hugely with the installation of pedestrian level light poles throughout the corridor. The 11 strands of colored lighting that used to cross Fourth Street have been replaced with a comprehensive string lighting system that will allow us to celebrate numerous holidays with awesome color-changing opportunities. You will see this feature come to life in the holiday season ahead of us.

One of the goals of this project was to attract new businesses and investment into downtown. We’re starting to see the private sector side of the project come to life with three new businesses coming to vacant spaces in the block between Railroad Avenue and Garfield Avenue, the expansion of a professional services company, the soon to be opened Echo Brewing and Pizzeria in the former train depot, the new Dug and Firkin British Pub, the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant and Sky Bear Brewing. And oh yeah, planning work keeps advancing on the restoration of the former Elks Lodge Building.

Our first big event on the completed Fourth Street will be our annual Festival of Lights on Friday, Nov. 20, from 5 to  8 p.m. While this event is always one of our favorite events to produce, this year’s event will be extra special. The event will be held on all five newly remodeled blocks of Fourth Street and will conclude with our annual tree lighting, which will is held in front of the Rialto ​T​heater. The event will include a float parade, a holiday market, visits with Santa, live reindeer, carriage rides and more. All our businesses will be open and ready to share in the kickoff of the holiday season with you. Please come share in the joyous moment with us.

Sean Hawkins is the executive director of the Loveland Downtown District. The Loveland Downtown District is a partnership of the Loveland Downtown Development Authority and the Historic Loveland Business Improvement District. He has lived in Loveland since August 2018. He can be reached via email at shawkins@lovelandpartnership.org or by text at 970-699-2856.