Five-level addition to be built over Dart Avenue in downtown Akron
Motorists on Dart Avenue will be able to drive through an addition to a downtown Akron garage that will be built this spring.
The five-level addition will be constructed across Dart Avenue with a tunnel added for the thoroughfare to continue between Main and Market streets.
The Akron City Council on Monday approved the approximately $12 million garage expansion, which is a replacement for a previous plan to build a larger deck beside the federal building. That project was scrapped in July because of safety concerns raised by federal judges about the new deck being a foot from their court building.
The new addition would be farther from the federal building than the existing Superblock garage, located behind the Akron Centre complex on South Main Street. The expansion would run west across Dart Avenue.
The judges have signed off on the revised plan.
''They are not opposed to what we are doing over there,'' said James Weber, a construction division manager for the city.
Construction is to begin in March and take about 14 months. Dart will be closed during construction, reopening when the project is complete.
The expansion will provide about 300 parking spaces, which Weber said will satisfy a demand for additional parking in the area. There currently is a waiting list for the Superblock garage.
The project satisfies a commitment by the city to FirstEnergy Corp. to provide additional parking in exchange for the company hiring more employees for its downtown location, council members said.
Motorists will have an easier time finding open spaces in the deck thanks to a new message board at the entrance that will list where parking is available, Weber said.
The project involves other improvements to the existing Superblock deck, including replacing the elevators in the lobby and improving the lighting.
The city is paying for the project, along with improvements to several other parking decks, through the sale of certificates of participation, which are a form of financing similar to issuing bonds, said Cathy Watson, Akron's deputy finance director.
Because Akron is building the deck across Dart, the city will not need to acquire any property, Weber said.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 orBy Stephanie Warsmith Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007
