Jordan Valley Car Park includes office/retail space

Come September 2003, there will be 977 new parking spaces available at the Jordan Valley Car Park. The cost for this parking high-rise will be about $12 million, said Mary Mannix, acting director of Finance for the city.

Parking dollars

Financing will come from four principal sources: $6.6 million in 25-year, lease-revenue bonds; $2.7 million from an eighth-cent transportation tax; $1.5 million in MoDOT enhancement funds; and a $1.2 million grant from the Economic Development Administration, Mannix said. User fees will go toward paying down the bonds, Mannix added.

"We set aside, typically, anywhere from 2 percent to 10 percent of the construction costs ... for contingencies" such as additional earthwork or physical changes to the structure itself, said Benjamin Alexander, city planner for Springfield.

The funds will be divvied out roughly as follows: $10.65 million for construction; $1 million for design; $250,000 for parking equipment and $100,000 for construction testing, Mannix added.

The multistory, 350,000-square-foot garage will be a free-standing structure located due west of Hammons Tower between Trafficway and St. Louis Street, Alexander said. Immediately to its west will be the planned arena, he added.

Office/retail space

In addition to its parking spaces, the car park offers nearly 14,000 square feet of office/retail space on its first floor, Alexander said. The Convention and Visitor's Bureau is the building's first tenant with about 7,000 square feet, Alexander added.

The CVB will move its office operations and 14 staff from the roughly 4,900 square feet it leases at the Tourist In-formation Center and the Union Planters Bank building, both on East Battle-field, said Tracy Kimberlin, executive director of the CVB.

"We wanted to be close to all the developments in Jordan Valley Park, particularly the expo center, and hopefully, the arena, when that's all put together. And that will put us right in the middle of it," Kimberlin added.

The CVB space will include offices, meeting rooms and a lobby display area, said Bob Stockdale, design architect with Creative Ink Architects, the firm doing architectural work for the parking deck and CVB infill.

The annual cost for CVB's new space will be $75,300. These charges are based on $10.20 per square foot, with $3,900 tacked on for parking spaces for 13 employees, said Louise Whall, public information officer for the city.

The lease is a five-year contract, and the CVB is the only confirmed tenant thus far, Whall added.

Countdown to completion

Work began on the 180-by-500-foot parking deck Nov. 21.

The structure itself will be six levels on the Trafficway side and 5 1/2 on the St. Louis side, said Sanjay Pandya, project manager for Walker Parking Consultants, a firm specializing in parking issues.

With a 270-day schedule to completion, the biggest challenge is to "make sure that this thing stays on track and schedule because it needs to come online roughly at the time the expo is coming online, Pandya said.

The general contractor for the project is DeWitt & Associates. Local subcontractors include Kennedy Contractors Inc., A-1 Electric Service Inc. and Allen's Mechanical.

Palmerton & Parrish Inc. is site testing agent and has done sub-surface investigations. Additional architectural work is being done by HOK of Kansas City.