After being demolished, delayed and under construction for nearly three years, the 4th Street Parking Garage is set to offer 537 parking spots this August. That’s 185 more parking spaces than the original parking garage housed.
The original parking garage on 4th Street was constructed in 1985 on the corner of 4th Street and Walnut Street. The process of rebuilding a newer, bigger parking garage began after the structure was deemed unsound and unsafe for use due to rapid deterioration.
The facility was closed to parkers on Jan. 1, 2019, and was promptly demolished the same year. Plans for the new facility included increased parking capacity, solar panel implementation and the integration of a $385,000 art project.
Leftover solar panels from a previous city project will be added to the structure to reduce electricity costs. The art project, designed by Project ONE Studio, will feature quilted grids made out of fabricated aluminum.
The preliminary design for the 4th Street Parking Garage was finished on June 14, 2019. The design featured space on the ground level designated for commercial use.
The parking garage was originally set to open by the end of 2020. However, the original construction plans called for the acquisition of an adjacent property at 222 South Walnut St.
Progress on the 4th Street Parking Garage can be seen at any time via the city's online webcam. The parking garage now has electricity, signaling that it nears its completion date in August of 2021.
The city aimed to purchase the adjacent property to maximize parking capacity without exceeding a height that would be considered out of scale. Juan Carlos Carrasquel had bought the property in April of 2018 for $500,000.
The city offered Carrasquel $587,500 to purchase the property, but he refused and issued a counter offer of $1.5 million. The two parties couldn’t come to an agreed price, so the city tried to acquire the property by mechanism of eminent domain.
The judge denied the city’s petition because the plans for the new parking garage included commercial use. The city tried removing the commercial aspect from the parking garage’s design, but the judge’s ruling stood.
This lead to an intense redesign of the new parking garage, forcing the height of the parking garage to be increased to avoid sacrificing parking capacity. The new design was not approved by the Plan Commission until Mar. 9, 2020, pushing the 4th Street Parking Garage’s completion date to August of 2021.
