An unanticipated gush of water in the middle of the night washed out business Monday at the Holidazzle Village's market in downtown Minneapolis, officials said.
A water service line that goes to the Peavey Plaza fountain broke about 1:50 a.m., said city spokesman Matt Lindstrom.
The flow has been shut off, and the "water has since been pumped out of the plaza," Lindstrom said. There is no initial word on what led to the break.
The village is in its first year on Nicollet Mall between 10th and 12th Streets as successor to the Holidazzle parade, which had snaked along the mall for more than two decades.
Danielle Pierce, a spokeswoman for the village's European-style holiday market, said it is slated to reopen at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The plaza's aging pipes — sealed behind layers of concrete — failing fountains and lack of accessibility were among the reasons city officials sought to demolish and rebuild Peavey in 2012. Preservationists successfully sued to stop demolition, however, forcing the city to agree to renovate the existing structures instead.
That renovation hasn't yet materialized. The city's public works director, Steve Kotke, said they are still determining the scope of the project, which will likely stabilize the fountains and make the space more accessible to those with disabilities. The state has allocated $2 million to the project, which requires a match in local funding.
"We either need to look at somehow getting the fountains working again and/or looking at putting them into a condition where we're not going to have to worry about breaks and freeze-ups in the mains," Kotke said. He hopes they can have the project complete by the end of 2016, in conjunction with a planned renovation of Nicollet Mall.
