Art installed on Main Street

Three years in the making, the project to install art tiles on Main Street is finally taking shape.

The tiles, which are 16 inches by 16 inches, were placed in the 1500 block of Main Street during the past two weeks. Each is a custom piece of art created specifically to run through the Main Street historic district, which stretches from Orange Avenue to Gulf Stream Avenue.

Ernie Ritz, Downtown Improvement District vice chairman, has pushed the project since its was suggested at the SemCon 2007 conference.

He believes it will attract shoppers downtown.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “It’s really going to help the district.”

Ritz secured funding for this first phase of the project through the city’s public art fund.

He plans to ask the Arts Council for funding for the second phase, which is the 1400 block of Main Street.

There is no timetable on when phase III, the 1300 block of Main Street, may be funded.

Total cost of the project is $32,000.

Robin Roy can be contacted at [email protected].