A major makeover of the Lawn at White River State Park will add a permanent concert stage and fixed seating for next summer's shows.

Officials unveiled Wednesday preview images of the construction, originally planned for the 2019 concert season but delayed a year because project bids to build the stage were too expensive for the park's budget.

Carolene Mays-Medley, executive director of the White River State Park Development Commission, said $17 million will be spent to transform the venue that debuted in 2004 as a public-private partnership between the park and concert company Live Nation.

The park will spend $8.7 million for the stage, new restroom facilities and infrastructure improvements. Live Nation will pick up the tab for the fixed seating and new amenities such as permanent dressing rooms for performers.

Preview images show a light-colored rectangular structure housing the stage, similar to the design of Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center — the Noblesville amphitheater owned by Live Nation. Two video screens will flank the stage.

A canopy above the fixed seating was part of the original construction proposal, but that idea is on hold contingent on funding, Mays-Medley said.

Mays-Medley, Gov. Eric Holcomb and other officials talked about the project during Wednesday's ground-breaking ceremony at the venue, 801 W. Washington St.

"We have operated in a temporary venue," Mays-Medley said, "which was basically scaffolding, trailers and Port-o-Lets."

Until now, the Lawn's stage has been assembled each spring and taken down in the fall. Attendees closest to the stage have stood on open grass or been seated in folding chairs.

The new-look venue will feature 3,000 permanent seats on a concrete surface, with general-admission lawn seating for 4,500. With a capacity of 7,500, the Lawn is slightly less than one-third the size of the 24,000-capacity Ruoff amphitheater.

Construction is expected to be completed in June.

The roster of past Lawn performers includes Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Florence & the Machine and Cage the Elephant.

Gov. Holcomb said he has fond memories of attending performances by David Byrne and Dwight Yoakam at the Lawn.

Tom Mendenhall, a Live Nation senior vice president, said his company hopes to present 30 concerts a year at the Lawn. The venue is seeking a corporate naming-rights sponsor, following an eight-season partnership with Farm Bureau Insurance.

Mendenhall said the new stage will be "significantly more robust" than the temporary stage used in recent years.

"We'll be able to produce shows that, quite frankly, we couldn't even consider under the old structure," he said. "Artists will have dressing rooms that are permanent, which is what they're used to seeing when they go to an amphitheater. We'll have a nice shower area for the road crews, which will be a huge improvement over sending road crews across the street to a hotel."

In addition to concerts promoted by Live Nation, the Lawn will become a site for events organized by nonprofit, civic and educational organizations.

"These enhancements will not only allow us to continue to offer memorable experiences for Hoosiers from all over the state, but expand our ability to diversify our offerings and serve so many more," Mays-Medley said.

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Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at 317-444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.