WEST CHESTER TWP., Ohio — The Square @ Union Centre is getting a major update, and work is expected to begin in July.
This will shorten The Takeover Thursday night summer concert series at the square, 9285 Centre Pointe Drive. The $3.6 million renovation is expected to start in July and be mostly finished in time for the 2026 Shamrock Shuffle.
“We’re really excited to do this. It’s a nice update for the community. We are going to do a modernization of the square,’’ said Lisa Brown, West Chester Township's administrator.
“We’re trying to have a focus on our parks and amenities and how we can better utilize those to serve the community. It’s a visual space that’s used by a big majority of our community.”
Plans call for building a new, larger stage on the opposite side of the square from the existing stage. The stage will be able to accommodate a screen for viewing parties or similar events.
Brown said the stage will be covered, allowing for fewer canceled concerts and events. This should also reduce echoes sometimes heard at the current location of the stage.
“Reorienting the stage will now focus the sound out to a more open area rather than bouncing off all those buildings around there,” Brown said.
“Changing the orientation of the stage will also improve the view for those attending events.”
Some concrete will be removed and replaced with grass to provide more places for people to sit. Two shaded plazas will also be added.
Two mini-splash pads—to be built on either side of the new stage—will replace the existing fountains that will be removed.
The splash pads will be simple and interactive. They mainly consist of water sprays with changeable lights but no play features.
A few changes are coming to the clock tower and the patio around it.
“We are adding and incorporating some up lighting at the base of the clock tower,’’ said Barb Wilson, township spokeswoman. “We’re adding the lighting capability, but the structure itself isn’t changing.”
More decorative concrete barriers will be added for security.
Wilson said six concerts will be held on the existing stage this year, beginning May 22—one week earlier than usual—and ending June 26. The line-up will be announced in the next few weeks.
