Tag: parking garage

IU Poplars: Bloomington board closes streets so public stands clear when walls come crumblin’ down

The aerial image with perspective from from the north is from the Monroe County online property lookup system.
View from the north of the Poplar Building on 7th Street on July 19, 2022.

“You have a beautiful neighborhood that we want to assist in improving ever further by the removal of the IU Poplars Building.”

That’s a line from a July 12 heads-up letter that was hand-delivered by Renascent, Inc. to neighbors of the Indiana University Poplars Building on 7th Street, west of campus.

Renascent is the company that has been contracted to do the demolition work, which has already started.

The hand-delivered letter warned residents of upcoming closures of Grant Street, west of the building, and Dunn Street, east of the building.

The sentiment in Renascent’s letter reflects the lack of affection for the building, which was constructed in 1964 as a hotel, purchased by Indiana University in 1972, and eventually converted to office space. Continue reading “IU Poplars: Bloomington board closes streets so public stands clear when walls come crumblin’ down” →

Parking notebook: 4th Street parking garage has unused capacity, based on data halfway into 2022

The new public parking garage at 4th and Walnut streets, which opened in late August of 2021, has a lot of unused capacity.

That’s based on entry/exit and occupancy data for the first half of 2022, which was provided to The B Square by the city of Bloomington in response to a records request.

For the first six months of 2022, the peak occupied state of the garage came on June 22 between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. when 315 cars were parked in the garage—based on the numbers provided by the city. More typical peak occupancy for a weekday is around 150 cars.

The reports generated by the parking system software show the capacity of the garage at 500 spaces, but during the design and approval phase for the garage, the number was pegged at 537 spaces. A manual count by the B Square this week put the number of total spaces at 560.

Based on 560 spaces, a typical peak occupancy of 150 on any given day works out to about 27 percent. A conventional parking industry benchmark is that 85 percent occupancy is perceived as full.

The garage replaced by the newly built structure, because it was failing structurally, had 352 spaces.
Continue reading “Parking notebook: 4th Street parking garage has unused capacity, based on data halfway into 2022” →

Trades District garage lines up software company as commercial space tenant: Exclaimer

Plan commissioner Brad Wisler. Bloomington plan commission, July 8, 2019 (Dave Askins/Beacon)
View of Trades District parking garage from looking southeast from Rogers Street.
View of the interior of the commercial space at the Trades District parking garage.

The first tenant of the commercial space that was built on the ground floor of the new 350-space Trades District parking garage will be a software company called Exclaimer.

Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) approved a draft lease for the 4,059-square-foot space at its regular Monday evening meeting.

The commercial space to be leased fronts South Rogers Street. The Trades District is the area north of the city hall and county government building on Morton Street, bounded on the north by 11th Street.

On Monday, Bloomington director of economic and sustainable development Alex Crowley described the deal to RDC members as essentially a four-year lease with the option to exit the agreement at the end of year three—as long as Exclaimer covers half the rent that they would have paid through year four.

The $19 per square foot that Exclaimer will be paying at the beginning of the agreement amounts to $6,426 a month, or about $77,000 per year. Part of the deal includes a “tenant improvement allowance” of up to $55 per square foot, which totals $223,245. Continue reading “Trades District garage lines up software company as commercial space tenant: Exclaimer” →

Bloomington plan commission: Former Player’s Pub site OK’d for 34 beds in 4-story building

In this rendering, the view is from Walnut Street looking west down the one-way westbound alley. The entrance to the ground floor parking garage is visible towards the Walnut Street side of the building.

A four-story building with 34 apartments, to be constructed on South Walnut Street just a bit north of Seminary Park, was approved by Bloomingoton’s plan commission at its Monday night meeting.

It’s the site of the former Player’s Pub, and before that Boxman’s Restaurant. In early February a year ago, Bloomington’s city council declined to grant the building designation as a historic structure. The building was demolished in spring of 2021.

The 34 apartments include 20 studios at 500-square feet apiece and 14 one-bedroom units with 684-square feet each.

The site plan was in front of the plan commission not because of its unit count, which is under the threshold of 50 units that requires commission review. Triggering plan commission review was the gross floor area of 35,632 square feet, which is more than the threshold of 15,000 square feet.

The project will not need additional approval from the city council. Based on a letter on behalf of the owner included in the meeting information packet, construction is supposed to start in late summer or early fall of 2022 and finish by August 2023.

Continue reading “Bloomington plan commission: Former Player’s Pub site OK’d for 34 beds in 4-story building” →

Requested tweaks to zoning for 340-bedroom mixed-use project on east side to be weighed by Bloomington city council

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The orange area is the parcel where Curry Urban Properties is proposing a planned unit development.
The orange area is the parcel where Curry Urban Properties is proposing a planned unit development.
Old Layout
Old Layout
New Layout
New Layout

In the pre-pandemic times of early February 2020, Bloomington’s city council approved the planned unit development (PUD) zoning for the 3.2-acre empty lot at the northwest corner of Pete Ellis Drive and Longview Avenue.

The lot is not yet developed with the project that the new zoning allowed: a building with studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom apartments totaling 344-bedrooms, which also incorporates a 306-space parking garage and 19,000 of commercial space.

It’s also not exactly the project that will eventually be constructed, based on a request from developer Tyler Curry (Curry Urban Properties) for the zoning to be tweaked.

After the Bloomington plan commission’s approval on Monday night, the next step for the changes to the PUD will be review and a decision by Bloomington’s city council.

Under the modified zoning request that was approved by Bloomington’s plan commission on Monday night, the bedroom count doesn’t change much—from 344 to 341 bedrooms.

It’s the mix of unit sizes that Curry would like to change. In addition to the studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom units previously proposed, Curry would like to add up to 35 3-bedroom units.

Besides the unit mix, the other significant change is a request to be released from a condition that a “green wall” be constructed as a facade on the south side of the building, to help mask the parking garage from view. Under a proposed new design, the parking garage is wrapped by apartments—it’s not visible from either the north or south side of the building. Continue reading “Requested tweaks to zoning for 340-bedroom mixed-use project on east side to be weighed by Bloomington city council” →

No formal bids for parking garage ground-floor retail, but econ development director says: “I am confident that the spaces will be appealing.”

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No formal bids were received by the city of Bloomington for the leases of the ground floor space in either of the two parking garages that are now under construction.

That was the anticlimactic news from Monday’s meeting of the city’s redevelopment commission (RDC).

One of the garages is on Fourth Street, to open in August. The other is northwest of city hall in the Trades District, set to open towards the end of March.

The lack of bids is not a setback, according to city’s director of economic and sustainable development Alex Crowley.

Crowley told The Square Beacon after the RDC meeting, “I’m not actually fazed by the lack of bids.”

One reason Crowley is not concerned by the lack of offers is that advertising for bids is a legally required procedure that the RDC has to follow. It was not, as Crowley put it, “a highly visible/marketed listing.”

Crowley continued, “I’m sure we’ll get more interest once we start marketing the spaces.” He added, “I am confident that the spaces will be appealing, especially as things start to settle down from the pandemic.” Continue reading “No formal bids for parking garage ground-floor retail, but econ development director says: “I am confident that the spaces will be appealing.”” →

Annual holiday free parking announced for downtown Bloomington, commission previews end of free parking in city garages starting in 2021

At its meeting last Thursday, Bloomington’s parking commission got a quick briefing from city garage manager Ryan Daily, about the end of first-hour-free parking in city garages downtown. That’s slated under local law for Jan. 1, 2020.

A sign at the Morton Street garage in downtown Bloomington alerts parkers that the first-hour-free policy is ending at the start of 2021. The hourly rate of $0.50 will apply to all hours parked, including the first one. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

A Monday press release from the mayor’s office makes Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 the practical end of first-hour-free parking in garages.

That’s because the press release also announced some free parking during Thanksgiving and Christmas. The mayor has discretion under local law to waive parking fees “during the holiday season.”

Jan. 1 falls on a Friday, and according to the press release, Saturday parking in city garages will be free in December. Sunday garage parking is always free. So it’s Jan. 4 that will mark the dawn of a no-free-parking era in downtown Bloomington parking garages.

According to the press release, for the week of Thanksgiving—from Thursday, (Nov. 26) through Sunday (Nov. 29)—there will be no charge for street parking downtown, where meters are normally enforced, or in city garages.

The decision to end first-hour-free parking in city garages was made more than two years ago, on a 9–0 vote of the city council. Various other changes were made to parking regulations with the same ordinance. Continue reading “Annual holiday free parking announced for downtown Bloomington, commission previews end of free parking in city garages starting in 2021” →

A tour of Trades District parking structure: “I don’t wake up every morning wanting to build parking garages.”

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One of the two parking garages currently under construction in downtown Bloomington is close enough to completion that on Tuesday afternoon a dozen city insiders and media types got a tour.

Just north of city hall, the opening of the Trades District garage, with around 380 parking spaces, is on course for late March. But enough of the main elements are in place that it’s already unmistakable as a parking garage.

That contrasts with the replacement facility for the 4th Street deck, which is not due to come online until August of 2021. So it’s still coming out of the ground.

Of the 540 spaces to be constructed in the 4th Street replacement garage, 352 count as replacements for the spaces that were housed in the previous 4th Street structure. It was closed at the end of 2018 due to structural failure, and demolished last year.

Leading Tuesday’s tour were Bloomington’s director for economic and sustainable development, Alex Crowley, and Josh Scism, with Core Planning Strategies, the firm that’s managing both parking garage projects.

Scism focused the group’s attention on the structural elements: concrete, cabling, pumps and the like.

Crowley took the chance to review with the group the case for the city’s decision to build the garage, but hedged against any perceived enthusiasm for parking garages generally. “I don’t wake up every morning wanting to build parking garages,” Crowley said. Continue reading “A tour of Trades District parking structure: “I don’t wake up every morning wanting to build parking garages.”” →

Bloomington RDC greenlights parking control equipment for two new parking garages

On Monday night, action by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) ensured that a contract is in place, with Evens Time, Inc., to provide parking control equipment for the two new parking garages currently under construction.

The view of the 4th Street garage, now under construction and scheduled for completion in August of 2021. The view is to the northwest, across Walnut Street, from the 3rd Street end of the block. Oct. 5, 2020 (Askins/Square Beacon)

One of the garages is a replacement facility for the 4th Street deck, which was determined to have structural issues and was demolished last year. The new garage is due to come online in August of 2021.

The other garage is being built in the Trades District to the west of city hall. It’s closer to completion and is expected to open in March of 2021.

The equipment covered in the roughly $335,000 contract includes barrier arms, magnetic coils, credit card exit terminals, barcode imaging kits and the like—the hardware necessary to admit and release parking patrons into the garages.

Before the RDC voted to approve the contract, RDC member Eric Sandweiss asked how the dollar amount for the contract stacks up against the budgeted amount for the equipment. City controller Jeff Underwood said $200,000 was budgeted for equipment for each garage, which put the contract with Evens Time, Inc. “well underneath” the budgeted figure. Continue reading “Bloomington RDC greenlights parking control equipment for two new parking garages” →

Bloomington to seek plan commission OK for parking garage design without extra land

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The view eastward along 4th Street from the northwest corner of the lot where the 4th Street parking garage previously stood. Feb. 17, 2020. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

Bloomington is still reserving the right to appeal its unsuccessful eminent domain action to acquire additional land to replace the 352-space parking garage that stood downtown at the corner of 4th and Walnut streets.

But in three weeks, at the plan commission’s regular monthly meeting on March 9, Bloomington will present a design for a replacement garage that does not include the additional land, according to a news release issued by the city late Monday. Continue reading “Bloomington to seek plan commission OK for parking garage design without extra land” →