Plans for the University’s first parking garage are being finalized, and construction could start by the end of the year. Gary Graham, director of the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation, said a meeting was held last week to discuss the cost of the parking garage and to finalize its design.
The parking garage could be completed as early as the end of 2010 and will cost around $24 million, Graham said.
Plans currently call for the parking garage to be built on Raphael Semmes Road where Highland Dining Hall, the African American Cultural Center, the Women’s Center and Morris House are located. These four buildings will be torn down to make space for the garage, and the AACC and the Women’s Center will be relocated to a facility adjacent to the parking garage.
“We hadn’t planned on touching those buildings, but a designer wanted to take them down for better efficiency,” Graham said. “So we met with the groups to talk about demolishing their buildings and promised them better plans and space for their programs [in the parking garage].”The LSU Bookstore will also move from its current location to the facility built adjacent to the parking garage.Ashley Citizen, elementary education junior, said she likes that the centers will be given better facilities but doesn’t think a parking garage is necessary.
“I don’t think there’s a parking problem,” Citizen said. “People just fight over more convenient spots.”
About half of the spots in the parking garage will be for resident and faculty parking. Spots will also be available for commuters and campus visitors.
The LSU Board of Supervisors needs to approve the final plan and design for the parking garage, and construction on the parking garage is not expected to start until at least November.
“The thing that will drive it is bonds,” Graham said. “The bond market is tight. We’re not looking to sell the bonds until November, so hopefully it’ll come down by then.”
Emmett David, director of the Office of Facility Development, said the parking garage will be designed to blend in with the Italian Renaissance style of many of the campus’s buildings.
“The University’s design standards will be used,” David said.
The University’s Master Plan calls for eight parking garages, Graham said. A primary site for the second garage is the soon-to-be-demolished Tiger Park.
Rayne Jarrell, construction management sophomore, said a parking garage on campus would be beneficial.
“I went to Southeastern University, where they had a lot of parking problems,” Jarrell said. “They built a garage, and parking got much better. I think it would be good here, too.”–
Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]