Three downtown Glendale projects were planned by different groups on different schedules. They now finish within about five months of each other. The Central Park Block Project broke ground on August 31 and is expected to finish in September 2027. The Armenian American Museum on the same block is aiming to finish construction in late 2027. Metro's North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit work in Glendale starts in mid-October and is scheduled to run through February 2028. For about a year, the library, the senior center, Glenoaks, Central and Broadway will all be under construction at once. The closures move through downtown in a set order, so you can plan around them.
| Project | Started or starts | Expected finish | What it touches day to day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Park Block Project | August 31, 2026 | September 2027 | Library and ARC parking lots, ARC entrances |
| North Hollywood to Pasadena BRT, Glendale segment | Mid-October 2026 | February 2028 | Lanes, crosswalks and turns on Glenoaks, Central and Broadway |
| Armenian American Museum and Cultural Center | Underway | Construction finish targeted for late 2027 | Southwest corner of the Central Park block |
Why the park and the bus line ended up overlapping
The park was supposed to start sooner. The City Council approved the plans and opened bidding in May 2025. In October 2025 it rejected every bid as non-responsive and started over. Eleven new bids came in on February 4, 2026. On March 3 the council gave the contract to ARC Construction Inc. The rebid moved the start to the last day of August.
Metro's timing moved too. In an August 13 release, the City expected Glendale work to begin "as early as late August." Metro's current Glendale notice gives mid-October instead. Both delays point the same way. Instead of one project following the other, they now overlap for about eleven months, from mid-October 2026 to September 2027.
The two projects are not small. The City's latest cost estimate for the park is $15 million to $16 million. The money the City lists for it includes a June 2024 allocation of $10 million from Glendale's General Fund, a $5.95 million federal Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant, and $2 million in federal community project funding for fiscal year 2026. The full BRT corridor is funded with $429 million from Measure M and Senate Bill One.
The park block, already a month in
The park construction mostly changes how you get to the buildings around it. The Central Library and the Adult Recreation Center are both open, but their parking lots are closed until the project ends. The City lists two places to park instead:
- Marketplace Parking Structure, 120 S. Artsakh Ave. Up to three hours free if you validate at the Library or ARC front counter.
- City Parking Lot 10, behind the Library and ARC. Metered public parking at $5.00 an hour.
At $5 an hour, a two-hour visit costs $10 in Lot 10. The same visit is free at the Marketplace structure if you get your ticket validated. Lot 10 is closer. The Marketplace garage costs nothing if you remember to validate.
The Adult Recreation Center has the biggest access changes. Drivers now enter the drop-off area from the south driveway on Louise Street and leave onto Colorado Street. On foot, you can come in from Louise Street or take the ramp or stairs along Colorado Street up to the upper courtyard. The north driveway and the north pedestrian entrance are closed. The City also warns about noise, dust and vibration around both buildings and asks visitors to leave extra time.
The bus corridor, in the order Metro plans to build it
The BRT work will move through Glendale in sections, not all at once. Metro's Glendale notice lays out this order:
- Broadway at Verdugo Road, where work begins.
- Glenoaks Boulevard near Alameda Avenue, working eastbound first and then westbound.
- Central Avenue, moving southbound and ending at the Broadway intersection.
- Broadway, moving eastbound toward the SR-2 and the Eagle Rock boundary.
Regular work hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closures can stay in place around the clock until a section is done, and night work between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. may happen when needed. Expect fewer travel lanes, closed sidewalks and crosswalks, and temporary turn limits on Glenoaks, Central, Broadway and the streets that cross them. Some intersections will be closed to north-south traffic while east-west lanes stay open. Metro says it will post temporary parking restrictions right around each work area, and it lists water trucks, noise monitoring and noise barriers if needed to control the impact.
The north-south closures matter most for anyone crossing Glenoaks or Broadway to get downtown. They are also the details Metro hasn't published yet. The notice says notices with specific traffic impacts and detours will come before each phase. It also says Metro bus stops may be moved, with no specific stops named so far. Metro has said it will hand out construction notices within a quarter mile of each active zone, in multiple languages, and hold community meetings every quarter for the length of the project.
Separate from Metro, the City's own pavement rehabilitation project has intermittent lane closures this week on Glenoaks between Central and Brand, from September 28 through October 2. That work is a different project from the BRT.
What each street looks like at the end
The finished street layouts explain why each street is getting a different kind of work. According to Metro's presentation reported in the Glendale News-Press, Glendale will have seven BRT stations. Buses will run in the median on Glenoaks Boulevard and in side lanes on Central Avenue and Broadway, connecting the Americana, the Galleria, the Civic Center, the Armenian American Museum and Glendale High School. That is why the Glenoaks work includes building stations in the median and rebuilding the road surface, while Central and Broadway get stations at the curb and new curbs and sidewalks.
On Glenoaks, Metro's design keeps the existing landscaped median. It is changed only at stations and major intersections to make room for left-turn pockets and boarding platforms. The current Glenoaks bike lane gets a striped buffer, with green paint at high-conflict spots. On curbside parking, Metro's August 2026 presentation says side-running lanes keep most of it, and that in most cases a dedicated bus lane takes the place of a travel lane. No count of lanes or parking spaces lost has been published for each Glendale street segment.
The park block is changing more. Central Park will grow to 2.71 acres. It will get two playgrounds, one for ages 2 to 5 and one for ages 5 to 12, plus a splash pad that runs on recycled water, fitness equipment, a covered amphitheater and stage, a restroom building and a great lawn. The plan adds about 70 trees and more than 3,000 shrubs and groundcover plants. The Armenian American Museum, a 59,800-square-foot museum and education center in the southwest corner of the block, has finished its steel façade and Hazarashen skylight and is close to the end of Phase II construction. That same August report said construction would wrap up in late 2026. The museum's own timeline, published a few days later, gives late 2027, and this post goes by that date.
The BRT's dates are the least settled of the three. Metro's corridor-wide FAQ says the project will be done in late 2027. Its Glendale construction table runs to February 2028. For planning around Glenoaks, Central and Broadway, the Glendale-specific date is the one to go by.
Downtown stops that are easy to reach this fall
Most of the construction sits north and east of the Brand Boulevard retail strip, and new businesses keep opening there anyway. Urbane Cafe opened its first Glendale location on Monday, September 28, at 249 N. Glendale Ave., Suite B. Founder Tom Holt said the goal was to become "a part of the neighborhood." The RealReal plans to open October 1 at 230 S. Brand Blvd., with authenticated luxury resale and in-person consignment. Sandough, which makes sandwiches on pizza dough fermented for 48 hours, is planning a shop at 126 S. Brand Blvd. The owner expects late November or early December, according to WhatNow, but that is an estimate, not a confirmed date. For more on how the strip runs through the week, see our earlier look at a week on Brand Boulevard.
The City's own calendar also stays clear of the work zones. Glendale's first Cultural Festival is set for October 4 on Artsakh Paseo, a short walk from the Marketplace garage. The Holiday Tree Lighting is listed for December 3, 6 to 8 p.m., at City Hall's Perkins Plaza.
For businesses along the bus corridor, Metro runs a program called Eat Shop Play. Businesses within a quarter mile of the construction can join for marketing help, free monthly webinars and one-on-one coaching. Its North Hollywood to Pasadena section currently features Natalie Peruvian Seafood Restaurant, Hot Wings Paradise, Highlight Coffee and Glendale Market and Deli.
The part of this year that changes daily routines most is the stretch from mid-October 2026 through September 2027. During that time the library and ARC lots are closed and Metro's crews are working their way from Broadway at Verdugo toward Central. After the park reopens, BRT work in Glendale is scheduled to continue for about five more months, through February 2028.
If you are planning a sale, a purchase or a showing schedule near Glenoaks, Central, Broadway or the Central Park block, it helps to know which section is active in which month. Thomas Atamian + Associates tracks these timelines closely and can help you plan your dates around them. Request a Confidential Consultation, or read how we manage showings around Glendale filming and events.
