Work is almost complete at the Shops on Long Wharf after a million-dollar renovation to upgrade the area. J.Crew moved into the west end of the shopping area one month ago. Improvements also include replacing loose and broken bricks in the outdoor pedestrian area.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

This story of statewide interest originally appeared in a local news section.

Historic maps of downtown Newport show a long wharf leading from the harbor to Washington Square — a vital artery between the waterfront’s mercantile district and downtown, where Colony House was the seat of state government.

But urban renewal efforts of the 1960s delivered America’s Cup Avenue, a highway that severed the connection between the two historic sections of Newport.

Yesterday, city and business leaders gathered at the Shops at Long Wharf to announce the completion of work that will be part of a continuing effort to renew the link between the waterfront and downtown. The improvements are also aimed at beautifying an outdoor shopping mall — with a pedestrian walkway down the middle — that was considered in desperate need of revitalization.

“This has been so uninviting that people forgot that it exists. We want to make it a destination for people who visit here and who live here,” architect Ross Cann said Wednesday while standing in the center of the outdoor mall. “It’s really been lost for 40 years.”

Among the improvements is a $1-million face-lift to the nearly block-long, two-story building on the north side of the mall, which until recently had a dark mansard roof. Built in 1969, it has about half a dozen storefronts on the ground level and offices on the floor above.

Cann, whose A{+4} architectural firm designed the face-lift, described how the building had no obvious front before and used to look dark, lacking any lights to illuminate the store signs at night. Now it is designed to resemble the Victorian warehouses or stables that once occupied downtown. The building is white, with gabled dormers and large windows above each storefront. Copper light fixtures will shine down on the soon-to-be hung store signs.

The rejuvenated building already has a new high-profile tenant, J.Crew on the Harbor, a boutique version of the chain that specializes in women’s apparel. It’s at the waterfront end of the mall, closest to the standalone building occupied by Panera Bread. Two other national chains, Cold Water Creek women’s fashions and Jos. A. Banks men’s clothing, will be moving in soon too, said building owner Stephen Lewinstein. Cuffy’s of Newport has expanded into the space left vacant when Pier 1 Imports moved out more than a year ago.

Improvements to the outdoor pedestrian area were undertaken by the city. Bricks that were loose or broken were repaired. Large concrete planters were replaced with smaller ones because they were considered an eyesore and best described as “tank busters,” said Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce,

Stokes joined Cann to talk about the new vision for the Long Wharf area of downtown, one that arose out of the 2004 Central Newport Study completed for the city by Taylor & Partners when Cann worked for the design firm. The vision, said Stokes, is now being realized through cooperatives efforts of business people such as Lewinstein, city officials and the Newport Historical Society.

The society is involved because it manages the historic Brick Market building, which sits on the Thames Street side of the pedestrian mall and was built in 1762. It has also been the focus of major improvements, about $150,000 worth, according to executive director Ruth Taylor. The city contributed toward the construction of public restrooms inside the building since lack of bathrooms has long been a complaint of tourism officials.

Also, the Alletta Morris McBean Foundation provided funding for exterior repairs and interior renovations. The building now has an expanded retail museum store on the first floor, where museum exhibits once crowded the space and blocked the building’s large windows. The museum is now upstairs.

On Wednesday, workers on scaffolding were still painting window trim on the exterior of the second floor. Across the way, carpenters were completing framing for a gable at Lewinstein’s building. The work on his building was begun six months ago and will be largely completed in a just a few days, Cann said.

There are no immediate plans for the one-story building lining the other side of the mall, where other businesses are located and which is under separate ownership, said Stokes. But he said the owner has expressed interest in future renovations.

Stokes said other improvements are under way for the Long Wharf-Washington Square area, including valet parking. Other changes will enhance efforts to attract tourists to places connected to the city’s historic roots, including its role as a birthplace of religious tolerance. The Newport Restoration Foundation has continued to refine its program of walking tours and Touro Synagogue is constructing a new museum building, he said.

Making the mall area attractive and fun will bring people from the transportation hubs at Perrotti Park and the Gateway Center into the center of town. For example, a Peruvian band will be performing live music tomorrow night.

“What would I like this place to be like in a few years?” said Stokes. “Faneuil Hall.”

rsalit@projo.com