Logan's Streetscape Is Finished. The Next Downtown Project Is Upstairs.

Downtown Logan has a new gazebo in Worthington Park. Apart from the Christmas parade, this season's dated events happen indoors on Main Street, inside the Logan Theater. The theater's busiest weeks run from early November into early December, and one of them takes place on its second floor. On the same blocks, the floor above street level is where the next downtown project is waiting.

The Logan Daily News described the gazebo as "a centerpiece of the city's recently completed downtown Streetscape project," and ran a photo of it on October 15, 2026. The dedication was first set for Thursday, October 15, at 4 p.m. in Worthington Park. Council later learned it had moved to October 21 at 2 p.m. The street work is done. What downtown can do next depends on the buildings around it.

What the city asked for at street level

The Streetscape took years. An earlier Logan Daily News report described an early vision covering the Route 93 entrance, Main Street and Worthington Park. Preliminary plans called for widening and greening Main Street between Mulberry and Market. They also called for making Worthington Park larger, with an event-ready Market Street, more seating and shade, and changes to the memorial.

By November 1, 2024, those ideas had become a formal request for qualifications from the City of Logan. It describes a "gateway corridor" on Mulberry Street, which is State Route 93, running from the US-33 interchange to Hunter Street. The corridor would get archways, signage, wider sidewalks, decorated pavers at intersections, and a road diet down to three lanes with a shared-use path on the west side. Worthington Park would roughly double in size by turning Market Street in front of the Hocking County Courthouse into pedestrian space. The document also explains why the park was designed that way:

"The project will also allow Market Street to be able to be closed off for special events, allowing the City to host higher capacity crowds for festivals and special events."

The same document set an owner's total budget estimate of $14,328,481, covering construction, design fees and construction-manager fees. It named American Structurepoint as the design firm and required all work to be finished by October 31, 2026. The city's timing came in close to that deadline. That earlier report's planning figure of $12.5 million covered three proposed projects together at an earlier stage, so the two numbers measure different things.

What council took out before signing

The plan also lost some features before construction. The 2024 document listed a splash pad, a climbing and bouldering wall, overhead canopies, the gazebo and a Veterans Memorial wall among the park's amenities. At its May 13, 2025 meeting, council took up Ordinance No. 26, which would have authorized a contract with TAM Construction Inc. The project was to be paid for with American Rescue Plan Act money and state funds from Ohio's Appalachian Community Grant Program. According to the meeting minutes, Ms. Henniger pointed out that the contract still included the splash pad and climbing wall, and council had never agreed to either one. Council voted unanimously to table the ordinance until those items were removed, and the law director was asked to correct the contract.

So the finished park should be read against that edited list, not the 2024 wish list. The gazebo is the one built feature the local paper has shown so far.

The season, room by room

With the outdoor space ready, the dated calendar for November and early December still runs mostly through one building, the Logan Theater at 88 E. Main Street. The listings come from the Hocking Hills events calendar and the theater's own ticket page.

The first weekend of November pairs a Bond film on Friday with a big band playing a Bond suite on Saturday, two nights that work as one theme weekend. Early November also brings a civic series to the same building. The One Hocking County Initiative has partnered with the Logan Theater to hold town hall meetings there, according to an Economic Development Committee report in the Logan Daily News. The organizers have identified more than 200 businesses, organizations and individuals to invite into a community partner group.

The parade closes out this stretch on December 5. Explore Hocking Hills lists lineup at 9 a.m. and a noon start at the Fairgrounds, with the route ending at the W. Hunter Street and State Route 664 intersection, and Santa is expected. The listing gives the start and end points but not the streets in between.

For dinner before or after, 58 West at 58 W. 2nd St. calls itself a restaurant, winery, brewery and distillery in downtown Logan. Its site lists current hours and takes reservations. The tourism bureau's downtown Logan guide adds names such as Home Tavern, The Feed, Hills Bagel Company, Chef Moe's on Main and Shamrock Irish Pub. Its shopping list includes Homegrown on Main, Saving Hardware, Flowers by Darlene and Columbus Washboard Company. Hours change with the season, so check with each business before you go.

The number above the storefronts

The November 19 workshop happens on the theater's second floor. That detail matters because most second floors downtown are not in use.

At a recent Economic Development Committee meeting, the City of Logan's Chief Code Enforcement Officer, Joe Posey, explained that vacant upper floors in downtown Logan may struggle to attract developers. Bringing their fire suppression systems up to code costs too much. He pointed to West Des Moines, Iowa, which put in a shared municipal fire suppression system for an entire block. Posey said that project started slowly. Once it was finished, it was a major success, and developers became much more willing to move into empty buildings. The Logan Daily News reported his estimate for doing the same in Logan. Just two downtown blocks would likely cost more than $15 million, because major infrastructure work has to happen before fire suppression lines can go in. The people working on the issue are talking with state officials about grant funding.

Set that next to the Streetscape budget. The city estimated $14.3 million for the whole street-level project, which covered a gateway corridor, a reworked park and its amenities. The fire suppression estimate for two blocks of upper floors is higher than that, and it would open floors in privately owned buildings to use.

Here is how the two projects compare:

1. Streetscape: owner budget estimate of $14,328,481 in the November 2024 request for qualifications. Funding was ARPA plus the Appalachian Community Grant Program. Logan Daily News called it "recently completed" on October 15, 2026.
2. Shared fire suppression: more than $15 million for two downtown blocks, per the city's code enforcement officer. No funding has been secured, and grant conversations with the state are underway.

Why the calendar runs mostly indoors this season

The 2024 plan built the park for festival-sized crowds. Except for the parade, this season's dated events happen inside a small number of buildings. The Logan Theater handles most of the schedule from November 6 to December 3, including the one listed event above street level. Whatever the park hosts next will still depend on the buildings facing it. Right now, most of the floors in those buildings can be used only at street level.

The fire suppression discussion is still at the grant-seeking stage. The Streetscape went from early sketches to a finished gazebo in October 2026. A shared fire suppression system would start from the same kind of early estimate.

If you own one of downtown Logan's older commercial buildings or a historic home near Worthington Park and want to know how the finished Streetscape affects what your property can offer, Brandon Emmanuel can walk through it with you, from street level to the upper floors. Let's Connect.