Construction on Bangor’s Pickering Square likely won’t finish until the spring, according to the city.
The space, located between the Pickering Square parking garage and the Bangor Area Transit Center, has been transformed from an empty, unpaved lot that sat vacant for months to a grassy space with a brick sidewalk and new bike rack and repair station.
Jeff Davis, the city’s engineering director, said he’s glad the project is mostly complete and he thinks it’s turned out well.
“We think it looks fantastic. We think it will be used in the spring time,” he said.
Construction on the site has been slow going. It was torn up in July 2024, with improvements initially set to be completed that fall. The new timeline puts completion at more than a year and a half after work began, which has frustrated downtown workers and residents forced to look at the “eyesore” daily.
Workers completed much of the construction and landscaping this fall, wrapping up around late October. The area is now mostly blocked off with yellow caution tape and orange fencing to protect the grass that was recently seeded, Davis said, although the paved pathways connecting the parking garage to Merchants Plaza are open for pedestrians.
The pavers feature a blue swirl showing visitors how to get to the city’s waterfront.
Issues with materials and contractors have slowed the project substantially.
“The contractor did not show up when he was supposed to,” Davis said in a City Council committee meeting in July 2025. “It’s not a good look for us to have an open site downtown like that with no work going on at all.”
Recent delays have been caused by manufacturer issues, according to Davis. The contractor in charge of the project, Streets Landscaping, is waiting on replacements for inground lighting because of a manufacturer defect, he said.
Depending on the weather, once that lighting arrives the city hopes to get it installed by the end of the year, according to Hannah Peasley, the project manager.
After the lighting goes in, art panels and informational kiosks will also be installed, Davis said.
Parts for two covered swinging benches are also delayed because of a manufacturer recall, according to the city. It’s unclear when those will be delivered, but Davis said they will likely be installed sometime in the spring.
The city will likely add some more amenities next year, he added, such as bistro tables.
“It’ll continue improving throughout the next few years,” he said.