Venerable WCCO-TV is bringing the news to the people--on Nicollet Mall, at least.

As Jeremy Stratton reports in the Downtown Journal, the folks at Channel 4 have redesigned their news studio to face the downtown mall as part of longer-term project to make the newscast more public. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to be a window on all that’s happening in this vibrant Downtown area,” said WCCO vice president Ed Piette.

The floor-to-ceiling studio on the mall was revealed to viewers last Thursday, but it’s only the first stage of a larger redevelopment project that will bring the news to passersby on a public plaza facing Marquette Avenue and 11th Street later this spring.

WCCO communications director Kiki Rosatti calls the proposed studio and plaza ““a meeting place … where people can experience the newscast.”

The WCCO studios haven’t been updated since their construction in 1983, Piette said.