Austin Tyler Takes Over Joliet's Downtown City Center: 10 Photos

JOLIET — The heart of downtown Joliet's city center, North Chicago Street, has been taken over by the Austin Tyler Construction company and what a sight it is. The Joliet City Center Partnership has erected banners along the chain-link fences stretching all the way from Clinton Street to Jefferson Street letting people the Joliet City Square is "Coming Soon" and "Yes, We're Open."

But if you are not a big fan of large thunderous noises from all the drills, jackhammers and backhoes and heavy construction equipment tearing several-foot deep holes into North Chicago Street, you might want to stay away from this portion of downtown Joliet for a while.

This is Austin Tyler territory, and dozens of construction workers with Austin Tyler were busy on Friday, digging apart North Chicago Street in front of the Rialto Square Theatre and the adjacent CUT 158 Chophouse. The city fountain at the Van Buren Plaza has been a casualty of the Joliet City Square project. The fountain has been dismantled into piles of rubble.

In early July, Joliet Patch reported that City Manager Beth Beatty urged Joliet's City Council award a contract of more than $20 million to Austin Tyler Construction for major street repairs and improvements including the long talked about downtown City Square project that fell several years behind schedule.

The Austin Tyler contract will not exceed $20,107,271. The project is scheduled for construction through December 2025.

Here's how downtown Joliet's North Chicago Street looked Friday afternoon: