Aurora City Council approves $4.1 million contract as part of RiverEdge Park renovation

The Aurora City Council recently approved the first major contract connected to the RiverEdge Park renovation.

The $4.1 million contract with R.C. Wegman of Aurora is the first of several for an estimated $16 million project that will include a new backstage, a new entry on the southern edge of the park, a new beverage pavilion, a new VIP section and new restrooms.

Eventually, the renovations are expected to increase the capacity of the park by about 2,500 people. Current capacity is about 7,300 for events and 6,500 for concerts.

The main part of the contract hires R.C. Wegman as the construction manager for the project. Work is planned to start as early as September, right after the end of the RiverEdge Park season.

RiverEdge Park is the city-owned outdoor live music and events facility along North Broadway and the Fox River on the northern edge of downtown.

The backstage work will include office space, dressing rooms, restrooms, a dining area and an outside area facing the Fox River.

Earlier this year, the city approved a change order to a contract that would pay Chicago-based Ratio Architects, LLC about $1.4 million to design and engineer the renovation project.

The backstage project grew from about 7,000 square feet to 24,000 square feet, officials have said. Most of the changes were done after the Aurora Civic Center Authority, or ACCA, which manages the site for the city, consulted with management of different acts as to what they need in support facilities.

Current facilities at RiverEdge include a trailer, and the backstage is not considered adequate enough to attract bigger acts to the venue, officials said.

The plan is to start work on the backstage as soon as the RiverEdge season ends in September and be done when Christkindlmarket is ready to start in late November. The popular Christmas-time German-American market has made RiverEdge its suburban home, and it has attracted more than 200,000 people.

After Christkindlmarket clears out in January 2025, the city would start on the renovations in the rest of the park, which include the new entry gate on the south end, the beverage pavilion and restrooms.

The entryway would welcome people to the park entering from Broadway, or from the pedestrian bridge across the river. Ticketing for the bridge entrance would still be on the west side of the river, but ticketing for the Broadway entrance would be in the new section.

Officials hope to have the renovations completely finished in time for when Christkindlmarket would open in December 2025.

slord@tribpub.com