Fourth Street's Final Block: Downtown Loveland's Race to the Festival of Lights

When does a street reconstruction in downtown Loveland actually finish? The engineering schedule says late fall. The way this project has worked so far, it finishes at a party.

Every block of Fourth Street rebuilt under the Heart Improvement Plan has opened alongside a downtown event that was already on the calendar. The City of Loveland says it has done this on purpose, pairing each opening with an existing event "to activate the block's true intention by creating a welcoming environment for local businesses and pedestrians." The last block left is Block 4, from Cleveland Avenue to north Railroad Avenue, and the next big date on the downtown calendar is the Festival of Lights on Friday, November 20, from 5 to 8 p.m. The Loveland Downtown District has already announced that this year's festival "will be located on the newly completed 4th Street."

That leaves about seven weeks of crews, fencing and pavers before the holiday lights go up. Here is where the street stands as of the first week of October.

Each Block Opened at an Event

Since the project started, the street has reopened in this order, each time tied to a downtown event:

1. Blocks 1 and 2 opened as part of the Festival of Lights.
2. Block 5 opened as part of the Bluegrass Festival.
3. Block 3, from Lincoln to Cleveland avenues, reopened to traffic and parking on Friday, July 24. Its official block party came on Saturday, September 12, alongside Pastels on 5th Street.
4. Block 4 is the only one still under construction.

The project started its block openings with the Festival of Lights, so it would come full circle if it ended there too.

The Block 3 opening shows how much these pairings matter. That stretch includes the historic Rialto Theater. Construction started there in December 2025, and crews replaced water, stormwater, power, telecommunications and gas lines before they rebuilt the surface. Sean Hawkins, director of the Loveland Downtown Development Authority, called it "truly the heart of our downtown."

The September 12 party showed what the reopened street is built to hold. A block away on Fifth Street, Pastels on 5th was in its 16th year, with about 150 artists making sidewalk pastel works. The Reporter-Herald reported that the fundraiser for Alternatives to Violence had secured $60,000 in sponsorships before the day began. On Fourth Street, the program included live music from Sugar Britches and Roka Hueka, live art demonstrations, sidewalk sales and a community chalk mural. There were also Rialto tours at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., and a presentation on the project at 1:30 p.m. A Bites on the Block tasting featured nine downtown kitchens: FeelLove Coffee, Door 222, Taste Local, Sandos, Mary's Mountain Cookies, Urban Field Pizza, Dug & Firkin, Loveland Tap & Tavern and Sage Speakeasy.

Block 4 Has No Firm Date

The last block is the one without a fixed finish date. In July, the City expected Block 4 to be done by "late fall 2026" and the intersections around the railroad tracks to be finished "before the holidays." The Downtown District's project page says the Heart Improvement Plan is "on track to wrap up in November 2026." No later source has changed either target, and none has confirmed one.

The weekly update for September 28 through October 4 gives the most current picture:

• Block 4 (Cleveland to Railroad): closed to vehicles, with businesses open to pedestrians. Crews are working on lights, concrete and concrete pavers.
• BNSF railroad crossing at Fourth Street: fully closed to vehicles. Pedestrian crossings at the tracks are shifting, so follow the posted signs.
• Block 5 (Garfield to Railroad): vehicle access limited to Garfield Avenue.
• Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 5: permanent sculptures will be installed, which may temporarily close some parking spots.
• Garfield Avenue, 1st to 7th Street: separate asphalt paving that is not part of the project, with on-street parking closures and lane shifts.

Block 4 is being built differently from the earlier blocks. Because it has so many active storefronts, the City said crews would rebuild its sidewalks in smaller sections, as they did on Block 3. Pedestrians will not be moved fully into the roadway. Instead, a temporary detour walkway the City calls a "shoo-fly" leads people around each work zone and back to the storefronts, and small ramps reach individual doorways. The City set construction hours at 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. So an early coffee on that stretch will likely come with the sound of crews already at work.

The Downtown District is also giving away $100 every week during construction to someone who shopped downtown. To enter, you upload a receipt or screenshot through a Google Form. You can also enter without a purchase by email.

A Setback at 225 E. Fourth

The latest news from Fourth Street has nothing to do with the street itself. On Wednesday afternoon, September 30, a construction worker inside 225 E. Fourth St. hit a support beam with machinery, and part of an interior roof collapsed. That building is the future home of a Rio Grande restaurant. Loveland Fire Rescue Authority Assistant Chief Tim Smith said the roof that fell sat below a void space under the building's actual roof. No one was hurt. Firefighters arrived around 4:30 p.m., after a passerby reported that something looked wrong. They then evacuated the two buildings next door, Lighthouse Dance and Independence Gallery.

Billie Colson, who owns Independence Gallery, told the Reporter-Herald she heard a loud boom between 1 and 2 p.m. "There were three of us in there, and all three of us were like … 'What was that?'" Smith said structural engineers judged the building unsafe, and the two neighboring businesses must stay vacated until shoring stabilizes it. The paper gave no estimate for when they will reopen.

BizWest reported in April that Rio Grande planned to open at 225 E. Fourth in early 2027. That timeline is now uncertain. The incident also shows that two schedules are running on the same stretch: the City's public work on the street and private renovations inside the buildings along it.

Pieces Still to Come

Once the pavers are down, the finished street will still be missing several pieces, and none had been confirmed as installed by early October.

The historic Fourth Street clock, a long-standing feature of Block 3, has been out for restoration paid for by the DDA. In July, the City said it would return near its original spot "in the coming months." The Rialto plans a new marquee facing Fourth Street. It also plans to reinstall "Persistence of Vision," the bronze sculpture by Patrick Kennedy that many people associate with the theater.

Public art is coming back in stages. Sculptures will return to new sandstone pedestals at the corner of each block. Nine of them will be part of The Art Advocacy Project's rotating 3-D sculpture program. A new art feature running across all five blocks is planned for the first quarter of 2027. The weekly update for the first week of October says permanent sculptures will be installed on Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 5. The official downtown Christmas tree will also return to its usual spot in front of the Rialto this season.

Public Works Director Will Jones described the work under and on top of the street as "built to serve our community for the next century."

Downtown Dates Through Nov. 20

The finished blocks are open now, and the calendar around them is full until the festival.

The ghost tours take place at the Rialto, so they are a good chance to see the reopened Block 3 after dark. The Downtown District's directory lists Little Piece of My Heart at 112 E. Fourth, Jack Jack's 4th St Market at 114, Burks Tavern at 118, Cactus Grille at 119 and Cloz to Home at 129. On the 200 block, it lists FeelLove Coffee at 210, Door 222 at 222, Henry's Pub at 234, Loveland Tap & Tavern at 237 and Mary's Mountain Cookies at 248. The directory is undated, so check hours before you go.

There are also new places just off Fourth. Urban Hot Pot opened in July at 500 N. Lincoln Ave., and the Reporter-Herald described it as Loveland's first hot-pot restaurant. BizWest reports that Georgia Boys BBQ plans a smaller downtown restaurant for late spring 2027 but has not announced an address.

The Festival as the Finish Line

The Festival of Lights is when downtown turns on its holiday lighting along Fourth Street. This year's program includes live music, a tree-lighting ceremony, live reindeer, a holiday market, carriage rides and visits with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Because each block has opened at an event, and the Downtown District has already placed this festival on the "newly completed" street, November 20 is the date the whole project is working toward. If the November target holds, the fence around Block 4 will be down by then, and the next time downtown gathers on Fourth Street, the tree will be back in front of the Rialto.

Rebuilding a downtown's main street changes how the blocks around it are walked, used and valued. That is local knowledge we follow closely at Stock Jonekos. If you own property near downtown Loveland and want to know how the finished Fourth Street may affect it, we would be glad to prepare a personalized home valuation for you.