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July-August start seen for city parking garage construction
Sometime near the end of July, when local residents are more concerned with parking spots at the fairgrounds or leaving their vehicles on Edgelea Drive to avoid paying fair admission, the face of local parking will begin to change forever.
Construction on a two-story, 146-space parking garage serving downtown Greencastle will commence in the "July-August timeframe," Project Architect Bill Browne of Ratio Architects, Indianapolis, said Friday.
Browne joined Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray in conducting a public hearing on the parking garage project, the biggest single structural element of the City of Greencastle's $19 million Stellar Communities package.
Parking garage bid specs are expected to be distributed to potential bidders June 1 with bid opening coming around July 1, Browne said.
That would put construction of the $4.4 million project in line to commence in that July-August timeframe.
A 12-month window has been allowed for construction but Browne doesn't believe it will take nearly that long to finish.
"It's taken a little longer but we're pleased to be where we are now," Browne acknowledged of progress on the ambitious project.
"We're hoping to complete this faster than 12 months," he added, meaning a late spring 2014 opening is possible.
And Mayor Murray is certainly ready for that to occur.
"It's been a long and lengthy, glorious process," she smiled Friday while noting total direct project costs are now estimated at $4,418,388.
Of that total, the city has received grants totaling $3,550,000 and has made application for a $600,000 development loan from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA). The Redvelopment Commission will be responsible for that loan, should it be needed to finish the project.
Local match for the parking garage project is $300,000, of which $268,000 already has been expended (including property acquisition costs), the mayor said.
Project costs have risen somewhat due to excavation expenses.
Part of that can be attributed to the old Commercial Hotel property, which has given way to the First Christian Church surface parking lot at Walnut and Jackson streets acquired by the city for the parking garage project.
The old hotel site redevelopment, Browne advised, "unfortunately created some very poor soils."
And those will require more and deeper excavation work, meaning much more dirt and debris to be hauled off-site, Browne said.
The public parking garage is being constructed on city-acquired property bordered by Jackson, Walnut and Indiana streets, just a block from the square.
The structure will provide free parking in the downtown with the only place for vehicles to enter and exit being via the Jackson Street side of the garage. Entry will be on the south end of the Jackson Street side with the exit on the north end of the same section.
"There's strong possibility," Mayor Murray noted, "that it will be a right-turn only coming out of the garage. For visibility and safety sake, it seems the prudent thing to do."
Pedestrian access to the garage will be through the northeast corner (with an interior elevator) and northwest corner (via stairs and a ramp).
The top level, which will include parking spaces, "will be open to the sky," Browne advised.
Ratio Architects recently unveiled drawings of a building featuring a limestone look and red brick-like accents that was seen co-existing nicely with older, historic buildings in the downtown area.
A series of window openings featuring terra cotta fins are designed to help provide natural ventilation for the garage interior and allow natural light inside as well.
Browne also assured the structure will be well lighted without many dark spots and designed so it will be easy to see inside the facility and for someone inside the garage to readily see out.
"We're always concerned about safety with any garage project," Browne said, noting the emphasis on lighting.
"We believe it's going to be quite a handsome building for the City of Greencastle," he added.