by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The new Main Library parking garage will open by the end of May but what that means, exactly, has yet to be determined.
Various parties involved in bringing the Duval Street garage online said this week that many important decisions including who will be able to park there and at what cost are still up in the air.
One thing appears sure: a new downtown post office won’t be in the new building.
For months the 600-space parking facility has primarily functioned as a staging area for construction crews.
City Council member Suzanne Jenkins said it was a smart move to get those industrial vehicles off the street, but that it’s time for the garage to start generating some revenue.
“I’m excited to see it open,” Jenkins said, “but I’d like to see some decisions made with respect to how we are going to address a specific rate there.”
That rate, the Mayor’s Office has said in the past, will likely be “consistent with the existing market rate downtown.”
According to recently released figures from Downtown Vision Inc., the average monthly rate for a non-reserved space in an urban core garage is $77.66. A reserved space goes for about $188.
National averages for both are close to double those amounts.
“I think that’s worth mentioning,” said DVI marketing director Lyn Briggs. “Paying up to $80 or $90 may seem high for Jacksonville, but it’s certainly below national rates.”
Kristin Key, the press aide for Mayor John Peyton, said a meeting would take place later this month to formally discuss rates.
However, after it opens this fall, talk of allowing library visitors to validate their parking is already on the table.
“That’s what I would like to see,” Jenkins said. “I’m not exactly sure how we would do it, but maybe issue a token or something like that which would make the first hour or 30 minutes free. That would make the library and the garage more attractive to users outside of downtown.”
But yet another garage component remains unclear. There is more than 18,000 square feet of retail space available on the first floor but the management group, Metropolitan Parking Solutions, has yet to announce any tenants.
For more than a year, the U.S. Postal Service had reportedly been in talks with Peyton’s office about leasing at least some of that space, but a contract was never signed.
Postal spokesperson Joseph Breckenridge said a downtown post office would not likely not surface in the garage due to cost restraints.
“But establishing a downtown hub is a part of our 2007 Comprehensive Plan,” he said. “For various reason we were not able to agree on an acceptable rental payment. The numbers would just not work.”
Downtown has been without a post office since the old Federal Building closed. It was hoped by City leaders that the new library would double as the postal facility.
However, Tom Goldsbury, the City’s Building Inspections Chief, said other prospective tenants have approached the City and that those negotiations have remained positive.
“From what I understand, those talks are going well,” he said. “But making room in a budget so that space can be leased takes time.”