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It may look undone from the street, but inside, it's ready.

So say Salt Lake City officials about the redesigned, repurposed and repolished Gallivan Center, a downtown lunch hangout by day and destination concert venue on many a summer night.

On Friday, the plaza will celebrate the end of a yearlong, $8.5 million makeover by hosting a "Renovation Celebration" with a free concert featuring the Sam Bush Band.

The 45 permanent public restrooms are open. The new spot for a wintertime skating rink is adorned with tables, chairs and a sweeping shade structure. Sightlines to the stage are clear. And the grassy viewing area for concerts has more than doubled.

Still, walking, driving or biking by the plaza on 200 South, one would never know that a gussied-up Gallivan is primed to debut. That's because a sewer pipe — for all those bathrooms — took longer than expected to connect. As a result, the new building now boxing in the plaza alongside 200 South still looks like a construction zone, flanked by fences to wall off the utility work. It masks what has become one of downtown's most populated and popular outdoor green spaces.

"Unfortunately, the view from 200 South just doesn't show what we've got going on inside," explains Gallivan Director Talitha Day. "It's complete inside — and it's gorgeous."

Day notes banners hang outside the new building to proclaim the plaza is open for business. She concedes the unkempt northern entrance — still awaiting trees and landscaping — made organizers "nervous." Critics even warned that the building itself would ruin the plaza's open feel.

"It is a little bit confusing to people," Day says. "But once you get in here, it looks great. The shade structure is not to be believed — and it really works."

For now, concertgoers must enter Gallivan from Main Street to the west or Gallivan Avenue to the south. Food and beer vendors will be in their regular spots, but a concessions stand inside the new building will not be open until Sunday's Avett Brothers concert at the earliest.

City Redevelopment Agency Director D.J. Baxter argues that the plaza's biggest upgrade, besides the extra space, is swapping the rows of Porta-Potties for permanent ones.

"There are a lot of very thoughtful changes we've made," he says, "that should make the public embrace it even more than before."

Although the grand opening was delayed a month, Gallivan has already had a busy summer. In June, the amphitheater hosted Earthfest, Viva SLC, a black-tie dinner for 500 and a reggae festival. It also stages Monday Night Movies, the Lunch Bunch concert series and, starting Saturday, the first of many booked wedding receptions in the new building.

Later this month, Gallivan will welcome the Utah Symphony & Opera for a concert and a Democratic Governors Association reception.

To plug the hole left after the Twilight Concert Series opted for more spacious Pioneer Park, Gallivan organizers also have contracted with United Concerts for a slate of summer shows. The first, Toad the Wet Sprocket, is Thursday. During the next two months, B.B. King, Adele and Willie Nelson will take the stage.

Beer also will flow hassle-free inside the remade plaza. A permanent tap in the new building allows a year-round license from the state's alcohol bureaucrats, Day says, "which saves us so much paperwork."

What remains undone — and, for now, undefined — is any sign at the 200 South entrance to draw people inside. The goal was to design a prominent beacon that would eventually be seen a block north by restaurant-goers at City Creek Center. One idea is to mount a large spotlight from the top of the elevator tower behind the Wells Fargo Center.

Baxter says that decision must be made by a future RDA Board as part of "phase two." But he has no fears about residents and tourists alike finding the open-air hot spot.

"Everybody will know," he says, "that Gallivan is open for business."

djensen@sltrib.com New Gallivan open for rentals

The newly renovated Gallivan Center, with double the concert viewing area, boasts a new building that can be rented for weddings, receptions and private parties. The two-story structure, abutting 200 South, offers 45 public restrooms and a south-facing terrace that can seat up to 250 people. For rental information, call 801-535-6113 or go to thegallivancenter.com. —

Free concert on Friday

The reconstructed Gallivan Center is hosting a "Renovation Celebration" on Friday with a free concert featuring the Sam Bush Band and the Red Desert Ramblers. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., and music starts at 7. The 45 new public restrooms will be open.