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City mulls future of Executive Inn site

By Ben Garbarek - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Sarah Harlan - email

OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) - With the Big E gone, what's next for the 20 acre site?

The Executive Inn Rivermont is history after Sunday's implosion, and now the city of Owensboro is looking ahead to new projects on the prime property on the riverfront.

Demolition crews continued to tear down other parts of the Executive Inn Monday, and soon the debris left over from the implosion will be hauled away.

Mayor Ron Payne said this area will become public green space as early as this spring and he's mulling over several other ideas for what eventually will be built on the Executive Inn site.

"The public is going to be able to utilize this and we hope by sometime next spring this will all be done," Payne said. "It'll be cleared, planted in grass and look like what we're depicting here."

With the main tower of the hotel now demolished, the city will take this area and make it into green space and take the Showroom Lounge off of the Pier and turn that into a viewpoint on the Ohio River.

The mayor said that will fit perfectly with the viewing areas already being built with the river wall.

The city will also build temporary walkways connecting McConnell Plaza to the proposed green space and existing parking lots.

A white fence will also border the green space, and for now the indoor tennis courts will stay open.

The city said implosion saved over a month's worth of work for demolition crews.

"I still have every confidence we're still going to beat the schedule we're asked to complete it on," Brett Rape with Denney Excavating said.

Long term, the city said it will build a seasonal marina at the Executive Inn and the rest of the property will be mixed public and private development.

"There was talk of an outdoor arena, a recplex, just a variety of things have been discussed but we want to make sure we do it right and that when we're through, we'll have something there that will be just as grand as the Executive Inn was," Payne said.

The mayor said next year the Fourth of July fireworks will be held at the former Executive Inn site and the barbecue festival might also be held at the Big E. 

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