INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO): Indianapolis has chosen a designer for the plaza that will eventually be next to the city County building.

The firm Design Collective was chosen out of an unknown number of submissions in judging by a panel of city officials as part of the City-County Building Plaza Design Competition. The company gets a prize of $15,000 and will negotiate with the City-County government for work on the project once funding is secured. “We looking at going out to funding partners. How we are going to fund it, we don‘t know,” said Mayor Greg Ballard. “But it was not a problem getting funding for the design competition, and it really won‘t be a problem to further develop the design.” Ballard estimates the cost of the project at between $7 million and $10 million.

The winning design features a splash park, café, game area, an outline of the old Marion County Courthouse – which was at the site until 1962, and something that was a prerequisite for Ballard – an outdoor ice rink. “We want this to be the backyard of downtown where people can come enjoy themselves, eat, watch their kids play, whatever,” Ballard said.

Ballard‘s goal is to have construction begin by the fall of 2015. When asked if he hopes to be the mayor when the project is completed, he laughed and replied “We‘ll see.” Ballard has not announced whether he plans to run for another term next year.

The design competition was funded by a $50,000 grant from the Central Indiana Community Foundation through its Inspiring Places Initiative.