City OKs $167K for Stopgap Repairs of 43-Year-Old Parking Garage

The city's 43-year-old arcade parking lot will undergo some structural work to get it through the winter and buy enough time for the city to begin to plan for its demolition and replacement.

The common council last week approved $167,000 for repairs to the downtown municipal parking garage on Court Street near the police station and Middletown Superior Courthouse. That total represents $42,000 from the parking department's fund for some immediate fixes and up to an additional $125,000 taxpayer dollars for weatherizing and waterproofing.

Several common council people were concerned about investing more public funds into the aging structure after some $300,000 has already been invested and just demolition alone of the arcade parking lot could run just as high.

Democratic Councilman Todd Berch voted against the expenditure. "I thought, 'it's got to come down,'" in the interest of public safety, he says, adding, in the meantime, the lower level should be closed.

The upper level of the garage, the most trafficked area by motorists going to court, Court Street businesses or those in Riverview Center, charges $.75 hourly for parking from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday with the first hour free. The lower level, accessible by Dingwall Drive, is for monthly permit holders, extra police department parking and a select few for area business owners.

With 700 vehicles going in and out of the parking garage's upper level daily, parking director Geen Thazhampallath says, and 100 on the lower level, closing it down would immediately remove 37 percent of available parking downtown, a prospect that could severely affect business owners and cause traffic tie-ups. It would also greatly limit accessibility of the Main Street area by all but bicyclists and pedestrians.

An assessment of the two-level municipal parking garage was performed in 1992 and again in 2008 by Purcell Associates (now Alfred Benesch & Co.) to evaluate its viability for the following five to 10 years. The report says the arcade, built in 1965, rehabilitated in 1979 and partially demolished in 1993 for the Middletown Superior Court House, was inspected again in May of this year.

In May, engineers made a list of eight deficiencies they deemed unsafe and needing immediate attention, including some loose concrete, a poorly anchored light pole, missing pickets on the pedestrian rail and exposed wiring. 

"The useful life of this building is really starting to wane," Thazhampallath says the structural engineers told him.

Those repairs, Thazhampallath says, would cost $45,000 to $50,000, "but they would not necessarily guarantee or address the falling concrete pieces and water seepage issues that are happening on the lower level."

The funds will be used, Thazhampallath says, to resurface the top level of the parking area, although he says he doesn't expect the bill to run that high. "I can't ever guarantee there won't be a claim," he says, "but it should significantly mitigate the property claim risk."

The repairs won't necessarily elongate the life of the garage, but get the city through a few more years.

As the concrete breaks down and mixes with storm water, he explains, it creates a residue that drips onto cars and can cause damage. In fact, enough damage was done to one car parked in the lower level, Thazhampallath says, that it had to be totaled and another suffered damage from fallen concrete. Another car was damaged when a chuck of concrete fell on it.

Since last winter, he says, there has been a measurable spike in claims related to the parking garage's age.

The conclusion reached by Benesch was the parking garage is in a "moderate to advanced stage of deterioration" and extensive repairs or rehabilitation would be impractical and "the planned replacement of the garage is justified."

Which isn't such an easy prospect. Even with $6.9 million in federal funds the city of Middletown can use to build a new parking garage, a structure that size could cost more like $12 million, Thazhampallath says.

There is a report being drawn up for a possible replacement garage by the Rocky Hill-based architectural firm URS Corp., which is expected to be complete by November.

Turning to a private developer to build a garage may be an option, but the city would lose aesthetic control of the design of this plot of prime property that faces the scenic Connecticut River, Thazhampallath says.

Since the city is planning to extensively develop the riverfront over the next decade or so, architecture is important, as is the incorporation of any large building plans into the larger scheme of a riverfront-centric downtown. 

A full demo and replacement can't be done Thazhampallath says, until plans are drawn up. "We agree the structure needs to come down. We're on notice," he says.

What do you think of the arcade parking lot and parking in general in Middletown's downtown area? Tell us in the comments below.