There hasn’t been as much parking as usual in the downtown area of late.
Three empty lots, including the one in front of the liquor store between 100th and 101st Street and also at 11th Avenue and 102nd Street, have been closed off for scheduled maintenance.
The closures have drawn an immediate reaction to our newsroom, with irate members of the public venting frustration about the impact the closures are having on parking downtown.
However, as City Manager Jim Puffalt explains it, there is a reason behind the closures that goes above and beyond the maintenance being done.
“We wanted to see what impact that had upon downtown parking,” said Puffalt.
In essence, the City wants to see what might happen if these “parking lots” were to disappear and be replaced by buildings downtown.
The empty lots are actually up for sale to prospective developers. The lot north of the liquor store had been available for some time, Puffalt said.
It was originally part of the King Street Station concept proposed a number of years ago. That land had been slated for potential offices and entertainment developments, but to this point only the liquor store has gone up.
Only a portion of the land is actually set aside for parking, Puffalt explained. “The rest is land for sale.”
In fact, Puffalt said the City recently put “for sale” signs back on the empty lots, simply to let prospective buyers know the land is still available.
Another lot that is now cordoned off is located at 11th Avenue and 102nd Street — the infamous former “Pigeon Hotel” location before it was demolished in 2015.
While it, too, has been used as a parking lot in recent months, the property is also for sale.
Puffalt explained the City wanted to get a good understanding of what would happen if these lots were sold.
They wanted to gauge the impact on the parking spaces available in the rest of the downtown during the shutdown, and find out where people went that were usually parked in those lots.
Even with these empty lots closed, Puffalt noted that some of the other parking lots still have spaces open.
The city manager acknowledges the inconvenience, but adds “we didn’t do this unnecessarily,” he said.
The plan is for the maintenance to happen over only a couple of weeks, after which the lots will again reopen for parking.
