TOLEDO, Ohio — Downtown Toledo is set for a significant new look, as plans come together to reconstruction Summit Street ahead of the 2021 Solheim Cup women's golf event that's coming to the Inverness Club.
On Wednesday, the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce released sketches of a "signature roadway in the central business district" that will include a brand new road and an improved pedestrian experience with "new sidewalks, street trees, furniture, landscaping, and more."
Officials hope to start construction in the spring after securing funding from city council. The project, which includes replacement of a water main, is estimated to cost $7.5 million.
The city of Toledo will reconstruct the stretch of Summit Street from Lafayette to Jackson. Parts of Summit Street already underwent significant construction this past spring and summer. This latest construction has been in planning phases for about a year and is expected to be in place by 2021.
The Solheim Cup is one of the top women's sporting events in the world, and the LPGA awarded the tourney to the Inverness Club in 2016. The biennial Solheim brings with it energy - typically raucous galleries, singing, music and chanting on the links - and a lot of people. The international cup is expected to bring tens of thousands of people to the area.
Toledo was selected for its history of hosting not only the Marathon Classic but other large golf tournaments - four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and two Senior Opens.The city is stepping up to make sure the area's infrastructure can match expectations and expected capacity of attendees.
Event organizers assume about 40,000 to 50,000 people could be at the tournament in one day with close to 15,000 of them coming from Europe.
"Those people will be traveling to Toledo. They will be staying in our hotels, filling our restaurants. They could be going to Cedar Point, they could be going on Lake Erie, going to museums, parks, and Hensville," Richard Hylant, executive vice president for Hylant, said in 2016 when the tournament was awarded. "They are going to be in the community for a week doing a lot of activity."