After 56 years of watching over the Knightsville section of Cranston, the local gazebo was demolished Thursday. The structure’s removal represents the beginning of site work for the city’s Knightsville revitalization project.

City traffic and highways personnel will spend the next several weeks removing the gazebo’s remains and taking out the shrubs. Highway Superintendent John Corso said there were four workers on site Thursday, including two on heavy equipment, a foreman and supervisor. The personnel will not be there every day but will use the Knightsville work as filler assignments between other public work duties. Moretti said Mayor Ken Hopkins is grateful for the work that Corso and his crew are doing.

Chief of Staff Anthony Moretti said Department of Public Works Director Richard Bernardo came up with the idea of producing cost saving measures for the city by keeping the project’s site work in-house. The city estimates that it is saving $10,000 plus through using its own workers.

The RFP for Knightsville Park – phase one of the Knightsville revitalization project – is live via the city’s website and bids close Sept. 6. All bids must be submitted to the purchasing agent’s office by that date and reviewed by the Board of Contracts and Purchasing. The goal is to award the bid mid-September and have phase one of the project start early fall.

Phase one work includes providing labor for the gazebo, pergola, fountain, bocce court, trash receptacle, tables and benches; whoever is selected as contractor must have Knightsville Park completed by June 9, 2023.

The new gazebo will be 28 feet wide (to roof corners), the pergola will be 17 feet wide and 45 feet long and the fountain will consist of three tiers with a central shaft and a nozzle at the top with three water bowls of different diameters tapering from top to bottom. According to the big package, the edges of the bowls will be scalloped with egg and dart details and fluted bottoms on each bowl. Some of the upcoming landscape elements will include shrubs, evergreen trees, deciduous trees and perennials and ornamental grasses.

Moretti said the city salvaged pieces of the old gazebo which were given to the St. Mary’s Feast Society and Ladies’ Auxiliary as memorabilia. The gazebo had been built by Itrani immigrants but, due to wear and tear over the years, needed to be replaced.

Phase two of the project will encompass the streetscape elements. Moretti said the city connected with Providence Water and Rhode Island Energy – both of which plan to replace the gas main and do water main work along Phenix Avenue, Cranston Street and Park Avenue in the next five years. By getting some of what they plan to do situated now, the city will not have to tear up its newly finished work.