The City of Windsor is hoping for a major grant to help fund projects to link the civic plaza to the waterfront and the Walkerville district.
"It's a real exciting project and it really allows us to check off a lot of boxes with respect to plans we already have approved," said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.
The city is applying for $36.7 million in funding through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. If approved the city will be on the hook for $20 million for a total project cost of $57.4 million.
"The $20 million would come from money set aside for the Paul Martin building already and there's already money in the seven-year capital budget to deal with some of the items that we're interested in doing. So it's not taking away from any other project," said Dilkens.
There is around $700 million in the Community Culture and Recreation portion of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program. The Windsor grant will be up against grant applications across the country.
"They can't all be funded so it will be a difficult challenge for both the provincial and federal government to decide which projects make the most sense for them and of course there will be a lot of effort on the side of each municipality to try and lobby to get their projects funded," said Dilkens.
The application for the grant is due November 12. There's no word on how quickly the two levels of government will decide which applications will be approved.