Downtown Parking

[BoulderSooner]

century center parking garage .. can add 2 new garage levels and copta is discussing that from todays city council meeting

city owns the 2 basements floors .. private owner middle 2 (retail/office) city owns top 2 parking .. and has 40 feet of air rights..

[OklahomaNick]

I'll repeat what I previously posted in that the DowntownOKC Inc. people told a group of us that its going to cost in the range of $20,000 PER space added to make new floors in the Century Center garage, thus basically making it too expensive to expand that structure..

Unless something changed.. Then that's a really expensive expansion.

[BoulderSooner]

I'll repeat what I previously posted in that the DowntownOKC Inc. people told a group of us that its going to cost in the range of $20,000 PER space added to make new floors in the Century Center garage, thus basically making it too expensive to expand that structure..

Unless something changed.. Then that's a really expensive expansion.

brand new costs 12k per space or more

[Pete]

Here's what the final parking study being presented to City Council today says about the Century Center:

The scenarios that exist for the Century Center garage are to expand vertically, demolish and rebuild, and leave as is which speaks for itself. The feasibility of the vertical expansion requires the existing foundations to have been designed to accommodate vertical expansion. A structural analysis of the existing foundation plans can determine if the garage has the ability for additional parking levels. Typically, parking garages are not designed for future expansion as there are greater costs associated with this during construction.

Demolishing and rebuilding the garage is an option to increase supply in the dense downtown core; although this is typically not a feasible option once a financial analysis is performed. Demolishing and rebuild can add an additional 30%-50% increase to the total construction costs. The net gain of spaces is usually limited, which drives up the cost per space significantly. Additionally, with the physical connection to the hotel, increased costs may occur based upon requirements of the building code changes that were not present when it was originally constructed. This option is typically a last resort.

[Pete]

And here's the garage sites being recommended for consideration.

"Future Development" shown in purple also includes vacant space they expect to fill, such as the Century Center.

[king183]

Am I reading correctly that they are proposing 9 new garages or just those are potential sites for garages (like 2 or 3 of them)?

[Pete]

Just potential sites over the long term. The study shows parking in the CBD is almost maxed.


You can also look at where the three downtown garages are proposed and draw your own conclusion about why we would need that many spaces in that particular area.

[BoulderSooner]

Here's what the final parking study being presented to City Council today says about the Century Center:

in the council presentation .. rick cain (copta) said that the structural analysis has been completed and that the garage can support 2 levels of expansion

[warreng88]

OKC Council eyes downtown parking
By Brian Brus
Journal Record
Posted: 06:35 PM Tuesday, April 17, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY – City officials are considering the possibility of adding two levels to the Century Center parking garage in light of the latest study that projects a shortage of parking space downtown soon.

However, not all council members agree that the Oklahoma City municipal government should be involved in the parking space business.

“I’m sorry if I missed the point somewhere along the line, but when did the City Council make a policy decision that we would provide parking downtown?” Councilman Pat Ryan asked at the weekly council meeting Tuesday. “I know we’ve done it in the past and we’ve had some success from an economic development standpoint. But I think that’s one of those areas that we should have reviewed, maybe, before we spent the money to decide whether we’re going to spend money to add two floors to this garage.”

Rick Cain, director of the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority Trust, said it is unlikely that the current downtown parking in the Midtown, Automobile Alley, Bricktown and business districts will continue to meet growing demand. Parking congestion is expected to increase as Oklahoma City continues to grow, attracting residents and tourists for events and attractions in the heart of the city. However, stakeholders do not currently see a parking shortage crisis, according to a study by Walker Parking Consultants commissioned by City Hall. The study cost about $58,000.

The Walker study looked at about 26,000 garage and open lot parking spaces bound generally by NW 13th Street, Centennial Expressway, Reno Avenue and Dewey Avenue. The overall off-street occupancy is currently about 60 percent, the study found, and on-street occupancy is about 50 percent.

Walker consultants adjusted expected parking demand to account for absorption of office and retail space in the downtown area, and assumed that 2 million square feet of space planned for the study area will be occupied in phases over the next 10 years.

At a medium growth rate of 6 percent, after five years the downtown area will just barely meet parking demand with 700 spaces left over, the study concluded; increased traffic or longer passage of time will lead to insufficiencies.

Consultants considered several alternatives to address core growth, with one site in particular catching their interest: the Century Center garage at 100 W. Main St. The garage has 800 spaces for public parking and is adjacent to the Sheraton Hotel, which currently owns two retail floors sandwiched in the garage’s middle levels.

The garage’s foundation will allow vertical expansion, Cain said. Refurbishing the space is preferable to demolishing and rebuilding at the same site, which can add 30 percent to 50 percent to the total project costs.

“Now it’s up to the board to make a determination as to whether it makes financial sense,” Cain told council members.

Ryan and others said the council should reconsider how much parking the government should shoulder. He said other cities require private ventures to take up some or all of that responsibility. If the primary justification for government involvement is economic development, then perhaps bond money might be available for the project, he said.

Council members for decades have zoned the downtown business district to allow for skyscrapers that dramatically increase population density in a relatively small area. Elsewhere in the city, street-level lots or curbside parking is generally sufficient to support zoned development; downtown is unique.

Council members also discussed the viability of developing parking space farther away from the business district, but agreed that the local culture makes that difficult because people are not accustomed to walking or taking a secondary form of transit to reach their destinations.

[Pete]

The bad thing about adding two more levels of parking at the Century Center is that it will make it much less likely to ever be demolished.

In other words, we'd likely be stuck with that place for a very long time.

[Steve]

But what if it is transformed into something you won't mind being stuck with?

[Just the facts]

To bring this garage up to urban standards they could do the following in addition to making it taller.

1) Expand the footprint so that it is adjacent to the sidewalk on three sides. This would allow for an extra row of parking on what would be 6 levels. That would be about 360 extra parking spaces.
2) Change the retail configuration so that individual stores open to the sidewalk and not into an interior walkway.
3) Add an exterior balcony around the whole complex for second floor retail and restaurant tenants.
4) Trim the building in LED lights.

[Pete]

But what if it is transformed into something you won't mind being stuck with?

That's hard to imagine but I hope it turns out to be the case.

[Bullbear]

To bring this garage up to urban standards they could do the following in addition to making it taller.

1) Expand the footprint so that it is adjacent to the sidewalk on three sides. This would allow for an extra row of parking on what would be 6 levels. That would be about 360 extra parking spaces.
2) Change the retail configuration so that individual stores open to the sidewalk and not into an interior walkway.
3) Add an exterior balcony around the whole complex for second floor retail and restaurant tenants.
4) Trim the building in LED lights.

All of that makes sense.. which is why it wont happen

[Just the facts]

Let me add a possible #5 - convert the 2nd floor retail space to apartments.

[Urbanized]

That's hard to imagine but I hope it turns out to be the case.

Not 100% sure, but that is often the coy type of question Steve asks when he knows something we don't about the matter at hand.

[Pete]

There is definitely a deal afoot for the Century Center being sold to some local developers/investors.

I've been hearing about it for months but the particulars are vague.

[Spartan]

Tear THAT down, not Stage Center.

[skanaly]

Can someone post the rendering for the addition to the parking garage just south of the first national tower

[dankrutka]

But what if it is transformed into something you won't mind being stuck with?

It'll be interesting to see how it can be made attractive. Steve has been dropping hints left and right lately (e.g. see Kevin Durant restaurant thread about the design) so I suspect there's a plan to make this happen.

[Spartan]

Can someone post the rendering for the addition to the parking garage just south of the first national tower

None exist

[UnFrSaKn]

I guess this should go in the new thread now.

[Larry OKC]

Not 100% sure, but that is often the coy type of question Steve asks when he knows something we don't about the matter at hand.

beat me to it...

While this subject is not really related to downtown parking, here is Steve's update.

http://newsok.com/renderings-are-unv...rticle/3667896

It's not a huge makeover but it's an improvement.

[Pete]

I moved a bunch of posts to a new thread specifically about the Santa Fe garage:

http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=29622

[skanaly]

None exist

Excuse me, I was thinking of the Sante Fe parking rendering