Traverse City Record-Eagle

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ALL DECKED OUT

Facts and figures on the Old Town Parking Deck

-- Four levels, 522 parking spaces

-- 47,466 square feet

-- Cost: $7.9 million

-- Contractor: Colasanti Construction Services Inc., Detroit

-- Architect: Rich and Associates Inc., Southfield

-- Estimated opening date: mid-August

Source: City of Traverse City

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April 25, 2010

Parking deck spurs development

By Bill O'Brien Record-Eagle

TRAVERSE CITY — The Old Town parking deck is a building block in a renaissance of sorts for one of the city's oldest commercial districts.

The $7.9 million, four-level parking structure rising between Eighth and Lake streets is an oasis of building activity at a time when much of the area's construction sector has ground to a halt.

And it represents another phase of a multi-year makeover for Old Town, once saddled with a shuttered iron-melting plant before a facelift began more than 10 years ago. River's Edge development evolved into Hagerty Insurance's massive complex and created enough political and economic clout to spur city officials to approve a publicly financed parking structure.

Now property owners hope the deck is a harbinger of more good things to come.

"We feel it's a big reason why these businesses are moving in here," said John Socks of Socks Construction, developers of the Regatta Building along Eighth Street near the new deck. The building houses a real estate office, with a delicatessen and sweet shop preparing to open, and Socks expects the new deck to entice more commercial activity in Old Town.

"With more businesses coming in, I think it's going to create its own momentum and keep going," Socks said.

The four-level deck includes 522 parking spaces. None will be reserved, but city officials expect much of the site will be consumed by Hagerty employees and related activity. Hagerty, an international classic car and boat insurance company, donated some land for the project and actively lobbied for the deck.

The company presently purchases around 370 permits for parking in surface lots around downtown.

"A good number of those will park in the parking deck," said Rob Bacigalupi, acting director of the Downtown Development Authority.

Construction is about a month ahead of schedule, and the deck could be open by mid-August. For some Old Town merchants, it can't get done soon enough.

"It's not been an enjoyable seven months so far," said Donna McDonald, owner of Bay Bridal Boutique on Eighth Street. The project cut into her customer traffic, and nearby construction cracked her building's foundation, she said.

"It continues to shake worse than ever every single day," she said. "The city got what it wanted, but I hope the rest of us survive."

Other neighbors are excited about the project.

"It will impact me positively for sure," said Phil Murphy, executive director of Old Town Playhouse at Eighth and Cass streets. Parking at the former church building is limited to around 80 vehicles; performance nights typically push vehicles into surrounding neighborhoods.

"It will alleviate the traffic on the side streets and enable our audience members to be nearby," he said.

The Old Town deck is the city's second major parking project. Larry C. Hardy deck between Front and State streets opened in 2003. The city took a different approach this time, Bacigalupi said, as it passed on hiring a construction manager and gave oversight to city engineer Tim Lodge.

"It puts a little more onus on the city to oversee construction, but we have more direct control over the construction," Bacigalupi said.

The state's deep economic slump helped the city get a better deal. Bids came in around $1 million under original estimates, and the garage will cost several hundred thousand dollars less than the 540-space Hardy deck, built more than seven years earlier for $8.3 million.

"If we had bid this thing two years ago, it would've been considerably more expensive," Bacigalupi said.

The city also implemented several Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design concepts into the project, to the point where the deck will generate much of its own energy in sunny summer months. It also will feature a handful of electric car-charging stations.

"It's about as environmentally friendly as a parking deck can be these days," Bacigalupi said.

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