Detroit will begin making downtown Spirit Plaza permanent next week following the annual Detroit Jazz Fest.

An $800,000 construction project at the public park will begin Sept. 4, according to a Wednesday news release from the city. Work is expected to be complete in early October.

The project, bid out to Detroit-based Premier Group Associates, involves a new performance stage, playground, stationary musical instruments, better seating, bike stations, drinking fountains and enhanced green space. The Woodward median will also be removed.

City Council in July voted 5-4 in favor of keeping the park and making the upgrades.

"The amenities added to the plaza will make the space more inclusive to all ages and help to make it an even more special gathering place for the public," Brad Dick, group executive of services and infrastructure for the city, said in the release.

Spirit Plaza opened "temporarily" as a park two years ago when the Woodward connection to Jefferson was closed to vehicle traffic. While the thoroughfare sporadically opened to cars for short periods, it had largely come to be a permanent arrangement. The plaza connects the esplanade in the center of Woodward to Campus Martius and Hart Plaza and is used for special events and as a community gathering space.

When the park first shut off traffic, City Council members were upset that the move by Mayor Mike Duggan's administration wasn't run by them first. Some council members still opposed the park two years later, citing traffic and safety concerns.