The New Year will bring some projects to completion and, city officials hope, ignite the beginning of others.

Work is winding to a close on the new transit center in the old Berg building at Second and Vernon streets, the first phase of the $8.1 million Ironton Lofts project.

“We’ve got offices in there now,” Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization Assistant Director Ralph Kline said. “We’re working to open up the convenience side of things.” Kline said he anticipates the coffee shop that will occupy the first floor of the building will be ready by the end of January. It will be operated by Tri-State Industries.

Kline said once the offices and coffee shop are completed, the elevators in the connecting Brumberg building that fronts Third Street will be replaced; those elevators will serve the apartments that will be located on the upper floors of both buildings.

Mayor Rich Blankenship said workers are installing underground electricity to serve the farmer’s market and other events that will use an open lot on Second Street near the Splashpark and across the street the transit center.

“It’s a short project, weather permitting,” Blankenship said. He said he expects if weather cooperates, that project could be completed within 90 days.

“We put the electricity in and the vendors can come in, hook up. This makes the area more user-friendly; it makes it safer and gives them easier access,” Blankenship said.

Meanwhile, Ironton Economic Development Director Bill Dickens said workers have nearly completed the removal of contaminated soil along the riverfront adjacent to the Center Street Landing; this is the first step in the process of remediating the area so it can be used as a riverfront park.

He said removal should be completed within the next several days. The next step will be to replace what was taken out with clean fill dirt.

Dickens said an effort is being made to find a new tenant for the old Depot, which was most recently the home of Austyn’s restaurant. Austyn’s closed a year ago. Getting a new restaurant in that building is a priority, Dickens said.

Dickens said the city does have inquiries from businesses seeking to locate in Ironton, which may have more going for it than some of its residents may think.

Dickens said he has gotten quite a few phone calls from distribution companies who have noted Ironton’s proximity to a large section of the population from Columbus to Charleston, W.Va.

“We’ve got a lot going on,” Blankenship said. “I’m looking forward to the New Year.”