Photo by File/City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department

This rendering shows plans for a $3.8 million redevelopment of Republic Square Park.

Major improvements to an iconic downtown Austin park will begin in 2016.

Republic Square Park, located at the intersection of Guadalupe and Fourth streets, is slated to add a small cafe and circular walking track surrounding the grounds. Site preparations are planned to shape open green space in the park.

Austin City Council instructed its city manager Dec. 11 to begin researching vendors to add a carousel as a downtown park attraction. The idea of a carousel was proposed by Councilwoman Kathie Tovo at the meeting.

However, Ricardo Soliz, division manager in the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said the carousel is not likely to be incorporated into Republic Square Park because stakeholders and neighbors said they desired open green space instead.

"There's really not a whole lot of opportunity for parkland [downtown], but [Tovo] also wanted us to look at some private land," Soliz said. "Republic would probably be off the table. We're thinking Duncan Park would be off the table, and [there's no space] at Wooldridge [Square Park]. I think [park] squares would be [a] difficult area to place this concept."

Republic Square Park attractions include a farmer's market and summer movie nights. Although Soliz said the park would close for a year once the renovations began, he did not say how construction will affect the farmer's market or movie nights.

Melissa Barry, parks director for Downtown Austin Alliance, said a solution will be figured out if the farmer's market wants to continue to operate during construction. The DAA will manage the park in conjunction with the city of Austin.

"The city doesn't have the resources to build and operate a park like this," Barry said. "The reason this partnership came into existence is so the city could continue to do what they're doing which is mowing the lawn and taking out the trash."