Published: May 16, 2008 10:03 pm            

New downtown parking garage ready to open

TERRE HAUTE — A trolley-style Terre Haute city bus carrying area government and education leaders rolled to a stop inside the new Cherry Street multi-modal transportation facility Friday morning, signaling the ceremonial opening of the city’s new parking garage and bus terminal.

The new downtown facility, scheduled to open officially on May 27, is a “victory of vision,” said Cliff Lambert, executive director of the city’s Department of Redevelopment. The new brick and concrete structure could help launch a historic renaissance in Terre Haute, he said. “Progress is here.”

Plans for the five-level facility date back to the late 1990s, Lambert told a crowd of around 100 people at Friday morning’s ceremony. The gathering included city residents, local politicians, Indiana State University employees and economic development professionals, among others.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Jack Maynard, ISU provost and vice president for academic affairs. “We are truly indebted to the city, state and federal” officials who made this possible, he said. “A transformation is taking place in our community.”

Parking at the new parking garage will cost $1 per hour with a $6 maximum fee per day, said Brad Miller, transportation director for the city of Terre Haute. Monthly parking passes will be available for $45, he said.

Half of the 626 parking spaces in the facility will be leased by ISU, Miller said. Beginning in August, ISU will provide monthly parking passes for university faculty and staff for a reduced fee of $30 per month, according to an ISU media statement issued Friday.

The existing city parking garage on Wabash Avenue has a little more than 400 parking spaces, Miller said. Unlike the Wabash Avenue garage, the new facility will offer no reserved parking spaces, he added.

“We hope this is just the beginning,” Miller said. For the downtown to prosper, “you need a place to park,” he said. “It’s a very big day for Terre Haute.”

The multi-modal transportation facility cost a little more than $14 million to build, Lambert said, adding that around $9 million came from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The rest of the money came from bonds issued by the city.

The ISU Department of Public Safety will be responsible for security and police protection for the structure, which is between Seventh and Eighth Streets, north of Cherry Street downtown. The facility is just west of Hulman Civic Center. The land on which the new facility sits is being leased to the city by ISU.

In addition to offering parking, the new 216,000 square-foot facility also will serve as the headquarters for the Terre Haute Transit Utility, Miller said. It also will serve as a transfer station for buses.

“I think the [bus] passengers are going to be pleased,” said Mary Harvey, a city bus driver and financial secretary of the transit union, Local 1064. “We’re really excited about it.” City buses run Monday through Saturday, Harvey said.

The lobby of the transit facility offers wireless Internet and there are public restrooms, Miller said.

The new facility will provide parking for downtown activities, including the ISU speakers series and events such as basketball games in Hulman Center, said Wieke Benjamin, a member of the board of Downtown Terre Haute Inc. and wife of ISU president Lloyd Benjamin. “This is an exciting time for Terre Haute,” she said.

Some ISU staff members will not be able to afford even the reduced monthly parking rate of $30, said Beverly Lindsey, an ISU employee working in nearby Tirey Hall.

“For me it’s too high,” Lindsey said, adding that she used to park in the ISU lot that was replaced by the new multi-modal facility. She expects to park in a lot several blocks away, she said. “I’m looking into getting new tires for my bike,” she said.

It was not clear whether the new facility will make enough money in the future to cover its expenses, Lambert said. “I would hope that down the road, the operating revenue would exceed the operating expenses,” he said.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

        

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