Three years after a statue of explorer Christoper Columbus was vandalized and ordered removed from a downtown park, a new statue will go up in its place. The new statue of a Catholic saint, which was sought by a retired construction company executive, will be erected on the pedestal where the Columbus statue stood in what used to be known as Columbus Park.

Approved by the Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday, the 6-foot bronze statue of St. Francesco di Paola, commissioned and financed by Sam Greco, will be installed on the 5-foot-tall pedestal left bare when a city crew removed the Columbus statue in July 2020.