Mooresville Approves Next Package of Parking Deck Funding
By Lee Sullivan, Lake Norman Publications
By next spring, the town should have a comprehensive design and a final cost estimate for a long-pursued downtown addition anticipated to become a vital business, community and economic development asset.
At the town board’s June 16 meeting, commissioners (with Tommy DeWeese absent) unanimously approved an anticipated contract amendment with Balfour Beatty Construction, LLC to move into a new phase of preliminary work related to the planned construction of a 451-space, multi-level parking deck and surrounding improvements along the downtown block of north Church Street between Center and Moore avenues.
Approved new expenditures of up to $1,315,250 raise the municipal investment in preliminary design, permitting and pre-construction for the parking deck to nearly $1.6 million, with the Balfour Beatty firm expected to have the complete package (100 percent design schematics, a guaranteed maximum price and plans implementing aspects of a overall town parking management program) ready for consideration in about nine months as part of the Design-Build project approach previously approved by the board.
The update delivered at the meeting by Engineering Services Manager Ashton Walker included a review of the steps already taken, including extensive involvement by a community steering committee focused on finding the right mix of aesthetics, size and serviceability for the project. The chosen model – with the Balfour Beatty team assigned the task of finalizing logistics – is a three-tiered structure on the sloped property, with a main entrance on the lower, Church Street side, that includes multiple pedestrian connections, elevators at both ends and an underground stormwater-management system covered by a pedestrian plaza near the Moore Avenue/Church Street corner.
The proposed facility also includes space for a Mooresville Police Department annex, restaurant and retail space facing Church Street and Moore Avenue and open spaces on both the Moore and Center avenue sides for future retail or commercial ventures.
The project will also include the creation of Founders Way, the committee’s recommended name for a new, parking-space-lined alley connecting Moore and Center avenues between the new parking structure and the back of buildings east side of Main Street.
The deck, combined with spaces along Founders Way, will include 512 parking spaces – an increase of 277 compared to the number of existing surface parking spaces in that block.
The guaranteed maximum price to be submitted as part of Balfour Beatty’s report will play a large role in determining the approach the town takes to finance the project. Earlier estimates provided by Finance Director Finance Director Chris Quinn placed the total package of improvements in the $20-$25 million range.
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