New Plaza In Bristol First Step In Market Street Revival

First it was Mill Street. Now, Bristol Borough’s Market Street is being transformed as part of efforts to continue to revive the historic riverfront borough.

Last month, nonprofit Bristol Borough: Raising the Bar broke ground on a new public plaza at Market and Wood streets, which is being constructed on a lot that previously was home to an old building that had fallen into disrepair.

Bill Pezza, a former councilman and president of Raising the Bar, said the plaza will be beautifully landscaped, have places for residents and visitors to relax and sit, and feature a large mural depicting the borough’s history as a port town.

Raising the Bar has hired artist Jared Bader to create the 1,500-square-foot mural that will be on the wall of the building overlooking the plaza. The mural will be a nod to Bristol Borough’s history.

Bader has created murals for other towns in the past, including the large one that sits in the center of Quakertown Borough, Pezza said.

The goal of Raising the Bar is to make Mill Street and Market Street thriving destinations for locals and visitors. The borough’s central business district has seen a resurgence over the past decade and since the Small Business Revolution TV series.

Pezza said the idea is to give more people a reason to visit Market Street, improve the streetscape for businesses and residents, and create momentum that spreads to other parts of the town.

“This is going to cause a ripple effect. You saw what happened on Mill Street and it will spread,” Pezza said.

The Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County acquired the site from the attorney who owned for just under $100,000 after obtaining funding from the a variety of sources. The site will be leased and maintained by Raising the Bar for 99 years.

Ground was broken in June, and the aim is to open the park before summer ends.

“We have a lot of local help on this,” Pezza said, noting many of the contractors are locals.

As new businesses are in the process of exploring Market Street and there is already a popular eatery Jules@Market to bookend it, additional upgrades and renovations are being planned for the street.

Raising the Bar is working with the historic Bristol Friends Meeting House and Masonic Lodge, which has its entrance on Market Street, to spruce up their properties. The Bristol Riverside Theater rehearsal studio on the street is also going to be updated to fit the street’s new look, Pezza told LevittownNow.com.

The nonprofit’s leader said the group has also had discussions about the use of the current Bristol Fire Company station on Market Street. If the borough’s fire companies merge and move to a central location, as has been discussed, the building could be empty and a museum could be established in the neighborhood, Pezza said.

And Raising the Bar has not forgotten about Mill Street. Pezza said the widened focus is about long-term success and growth for the town.

“We want to show Bristol is back. Good things are happening here,” Pezza said. “We want people to say, ‘What do you want to do? Let’s go to Bristol.’”

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