At 824 Front Street, Steinbaugh Pavilion changes jobs when the weather turns. In summer it hosts the Street Faire. In winter it becomes Old Town Skate, where adult admission is $10, children's admission is $9, children under four skate free, and skate rentals are included. The City lists Old Town Skate as one of the pavilion's uses. On September 22, the City Council agenda included a resolution to approve a 2026–27 rink management and license agreement with the Downtown Business Authority, with the City paying $100,000.
That same pavilion is the center of Front & Center, the City's first phase of the Downtown Vision Plan. The construction schedule was planned around downtown's busiest season. Downtown's busiest season is summer, though, and the rink operates in winter.
The calendar the construction window was drawn around
The City's project page, last updated June 1, 2026, explains the schedule plainly. Construction is "currently anticipated to begin in early 2027," and "to reduce impacts during our busiest event season, work is expected to take place primarily October through May, with construction likely happening in two phases through spring 2028." The page names the events it means to protect:
"Importantly, all beloved downtown events—like the Street Faire, Farmers Market, and Taste of Louisville—are expected to continue, and the project may include additional features to better support these events in the future."
Compare those events with the 2026 calendar and the reasoning is clear:
| Event | 2026 dates | Location | Inside the October–May window? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taste of Louisville | June 5 and 6 | Steinbaugh Pavilion, Farmers Market at Front and Walnut | No |
| Street Faire | Eight Fridays, June 12 to August 7, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. | Steinbaugh Pavilion, 824 Front Street | No |
| Farmers Market | Saturdays, May 9 to October 10, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Front Street | Only at the edges, in May and early October |
| Old Town Skate | Listed as November 21 to February 17 | Steinbaugh Pavilion | Yes, the whole season |
Taste of Louisville and the Street Faire fall entirely in the June-to-August stretch outside the window. The Farmers Market season mostly does too, with only its first weeks in May and its last days in early October inside it. The market closed its 2026 season on Saturday, October 10, two days ago. The rink is the one regular Steinbaugh use whose entire season falls inside the construction window, and the City's list of events expected to continue doesn't mention it.
Where this winter sits on that schedule
This winter isn't the construction season. The City's earliest date for work at Steinbaugh Pavilion and on Front Street is "as soon as early 2027." A few dates still sit close together, though.
The rink's dates come first. Old Town Skate's site says "Open November 21 – February 17" but doesn't give a year next to those dates. Its posted hours are 3 to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 3 to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. The ticketing page lists different weekday hours, 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday. If the 2026–27 season keeps a mid-February closing date, its last weeks fall in the same "early 2027" period the City gave for the earliest possible Steinbaugh start. The City hasn't published anything that links the two, and the project page calls its timelines "still being refined."
Main Street has its own timing. The City says construction "may begin as early as Winter 2026 on Main Street with the addition of new lighting." Winter 2026 also covers the Louisville Chamber's Parade of Lights, set for Friday, December 4, on Historic Main Street.
Then there are the seasons after this one. With work planned mostly from October through May in two phases through spring 2028, at least one more full winter falls inside the construction period. Nothing published so far says where a rink would operate during those winters, or whether one would.
The price is still being negotiated
The schedule is only one open question. The cost and the scope are open too.
In October 2025, Colorado Hometown Weekly reported that the first phase was expected to cost around $9 million. That money came from the Louisville Revitalization Commission, the city's urban renewal authority, which economic vitality manager Vanessa Zarate said was bonding against its future revenue. That $9 million figure no longer covers the whole project.
At the September 22 council meeting, as Citizen Portal's meeting summary described it, City staff and the commission asked council for another $4.22 million in city funding on top of the $9 million already allocated by the commission and others. According to that account, councilors generally supported revitalizing downtown but debated the scope and timing, and whether to cap the City's share at $4.2 million. They asked staff for "buyout packages" that would cut features so the core Front Street work could be finished without cost overruns. The meeting video embedded with that summary includes a segment labeled "Pavilion and secondary pavilion cost." No vote, final scope, or adopted budget for the request has been published.
A firm number is still to come. ECI Site Construction Management is the project's Construction Manager at Risk, and the City says ECI will provide a Guaranteed Maximum Price once design is complete or nearly complete. The 30% design is done, and staff aimed to finalize the scope in fall 2026. In practice, that means the features included and the price are being settled this season, while the pavilion is set up for skating.
The commission's funding also has a time limit. Zarate told Colorado Hometown Weekly that commission money won't be available for later phases of the vision plan because the commission sunsets in 2032. The same report estimated phase two at up to $7 million and phase three at roughly $13 million to $18 million, with funding for both still uncertain. That makes phase one the part of the plan with a dedicated funding source, so the features that survive the buyout discussion are the ones most likely to get built.
What the full scope would put on this block
According to the City, the full first-phase scope turns the Steinbaugh area into a plaza with a new pavilion, green space, a playground, a splash pad, better lighting, and flexible gathering areas. Front Street would get a curbless design meant to make it more accessible and pedestrian-friendly, and Main Street would get new string lighting and landscaping. The City says the project includes a "new pavilion." It doesn't say what happens to the existing structure.
The 2025 coverage adds detail about the location. The plaza could take over nearby parking spaces, and the curbless section would run along Front Street between Spruce and Walnut. The vision plan says those curbless streets won't be pedestrian-only. The vision plan's broader phase one also calls for a wayfinding program and an advisory bike lane on Front Street linking South Street to the Coal Creek Trail.
Assistant city engineer Jordan Jefferies described the goal to the paper: "We're going to be adding a lot of trees. We're going to add some greenery and make the downtown feel a little bit more natural, create gathering spaces, encourage people to gather downtown." RVi Planning and Landscape Architecture is the project's designer, and the City says it is talking with downtown event coordinators and businesses so the space works for daily use and for events. The City has also said there will be "limited opportunities for further design input" now that the plan is in detailed design.
Steinbaugh from now through February 17, in date order
These are the dates on the downtown calendar, including the public meetings where the project's scope could be decided, between now and the rink's listed closing day:
- Tuesday, October 13. City Council meets. The agenda was posted October 8.
- Tuesday, October 20. City Council meets again. Neither October meeting has been confirmed to include the buyout packages.
- Wednesday, October 21. Louisville Revitalization Commission's next scheduled meeting.
- November 21. Old Town Skate's listed opening day at Steinbaugh Pavilion. Check with the operator before you go, since the site doesn't print a year.
- Thanksgiving, November 26, 9 a.m. The Louisville Turkey Trot 5K starts at Front and Pine and finishes at South and Front. Proceeds benefit Community Food Share.
- Friday, December 4. The Parade of Lights on Historic Main Street. The Chamber counted more than 6,000 attendees in 2025 and says the 2026 lineup is coming soon. At the 2025 parade, Santa visits ran from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Main Street parking lot next to Waterloo, along with the Wanderbooth Holiday Photobooth and a spot to write and mail letters to Santa.
- February 17. Old Town Skate's listed closing day, in the same months the City has said Steinbaugh construction could begin.
The downtown events calendar says "Calendar coming soon," so any other holiday programming in November and December hasn't been announced yet. The City's project page is still where Front & Center construction notices will be posted first. The City says it and ECI will notify the public of construction activity and impacts well in advance.
Changes to a town's main gathering space affect the blocks around it for years, including which streets are quiet and which side of a block faces the plaza. If you own near Old Town Louisville and want to talk through how Front & Center's final scope could affect your property, Marybeth Emerson can walk you through the plans block by block. Schedule a consultation.
