CLEVELAND, Ohio - Three-year-old Kamden Kopkas of Strongsville earned a footnote in history Thursday morning when he became the first Cuyahoga County resident to splash in the water feature at the opening ceremony for the newly renovated Public Square.

Kamden jumped into the shallow, shimmering oval of water, ringed with fountain sprays, moments after the conclusion of a half-hour event, which drew hundreds of onlookers.

The area that hosts the water feature was bone-dry during the ceremony. But it quickly filled with water after Cleveland Foundation President and CEO Ronn Richard, who participated in the event, declared that it be turned on.

As the Shaw High School Marching Band played "Get Down Tonight," an inviting skim of cool water appeared on the plaza under a hot sun and blue skies that seemed to echo the mood of a city on a high after the recent NBA championship victory of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Eager to get wet

That's when Kamden jumped through an opening in the portable chain barrier that had blocked off the water feature portion of the plaza during the ceremony.

His mom, Jennifer Kopkas, said her son couldn't wait to wet.

Before the ceremony, "he actually went up to [Cleveland] Mayor Frank Jackson asked him to turn it on earlier," she said. "He's a very adventurous kid."

Thursday's events featured remarks by Jackson, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and Anthony Coyne, chairman of the nonprofit, city-county Group Plan Commission, which oversaw the project.

The officials extolled the public-private partnership that made the renovation a reality. They praised LAND Studio, the Cleveland nonprofit organization that managed the project, and contractors working under the construction firm Donley's, who rebuilt the square.

Gratitude for donors

Daniel Walsh, who chairs the Group Plan Commission's governance committee, listed key donors to the project, including the Cleveland Foundation, which contributed $8 million, and the Gund Foundation, which kicked in $5 million.

In all, $22.5 million of the $37 million cost of rebuilding the square's surface -- or nearly 61 percent -- came from private sources including corporations and foundations, Walsh said in an interview before Thursday's event.

Hard construction costs for the project were $50 million, including $13 million to redo utilities beneath the square, of which $8 million came from private utilities and $5 million from the city.

Walsh said in the interview that the project required $3 million above and beyond the construction costs for consulting fees, legal advice, staff salaries and other expenses.

The Group Plan Commission has also raised $4 million for future event programming in the square.

"Our home"

Beth Mooney, chairman and CEO of KeyCorp, which donated $4 million to the project, said in her remarks during the ceremony that the bank has viewed Public Square as its front door since it established itself there in the 19th century.

"Welcome to our home," she said.

City workers quietly removed fences from around the square last Friday, but Thursday's event marked the official culmination of the 15-month, $53 million renovation, motivated in part by a desire to spruce up the city for the Republican National Convention, which starts Monday, July 18.

The project is part of a recent trend in which the city is improving parks and public spaces to make it more livable and attractive to residents.[enhanced link]

Designed by the widely acclaimed New York landscape architecture firm of James Corner Field Operations, the project removed Ontario Street from the square.

Designed for unity

The design changed the 6-acre civic space from a collection of four traffic islands to a pair of larger and more generous rectangular spaces bisected by Superior Avenue, which still runs east-west through the center.

The project was predicated on the notion that buses of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority would continue to circulate along Superior Avenue, while cars would be diverted around its edges.

Richard Kennedy, the James Corner principal who led the project, said Thursday before the ceremony that he felt it was "inevitable," in his words, that Superior Avenue would eventually be closed to buses, echoing the sentiments of some Clevelanders who want the entire space closed to traffic.

"People are going to love the square and will enjoy seeing it connected," he said.

RTA General Manager and CEO Joe Calabrese said in a recent interview that the transit agency hadn't yet decided whether to resume bus service in the square before the Republican convention or after.

But on Thursday, there was no doubt that service would resume there. Coyne praised RTA for its participation in the design of the square, and emphasized that transit would be a key part of its future.

Upcoming events planned

Coyne also said the performances at the opening by the Shaw band and cheerleaders of the Cavaliers were "just a teaser for what you'll see in the coming months," given that the Group Plan Commission is planning scores of performances and events, starting with a July 29 concert by the Cleveland Orchestra.

Soon after he spoke, the water feature filled, the band played and the square designed by Moses Cleaveland and his surveyors as the heart of the city 220 years ago began the next stage of its life.