keybank donates $4m towards revitalization of public square, bringing project closer to its goal

Lee Chilcote Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Public Square renderingPublic Square rendering

The KeyBank Foundation has announced a $4 million donation towards the revitalization of Public Square, bringing this long-sought project one step closer to a fall groundbreaking and completion in 2016. The gift is the project's first corporate donation, and the single largest gift in the KeyBank Foundation's history. In recognition, Group Plan Commission leaders spearheading the project have pledged that the new pathway that will ring Public Square will be called the KeyBank Promenade.

“The redevelopment of Public Square will be one of the most significant projects in the city’s history, and we are proud to be able to play a part in making it happen,” said KeyCorp Chairman and CEO Beth Mooney in a press release. “It will provide the kind of public space that acts as a magnet for residents and visitors. Years from now, Clevelanders will regard this project as one of the essential elements in the city’s revitalization.”

KeyBank's gift also meets the requirements of a $1 million challenge grant from the Cleveland Foundation. The gift includes $500,000 for long-term maintenance.

Check out Fresh Water's past coverage of Public Square's revitalization here and here.
Lee Chilcote
Lee Chilcote

About the Author: Lee Chilcote

Lee Chilcote is founder and editor of The Land. He is the author of the poetry chapbooks The Shape of Home and How to Live in Ruins. His writing has been published by Vanity Fair, Next City, Belt and many literary journals as well as in The Cleveland Neighborhood Guidebook, The Cleveland Anthology and A Race Anthology: Dispatches and Artifacts from a Segregated City. He is a founder and former executive director of Literary Cleveland. He lives in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood of Cleveland with his family.

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