New downtown garage plan shows 1,000 more spaces, room for more development: Deck would have 1,000 more spaces, but could also be site of residential, retail development.

By the end of 2015, employees and visitors in downtown Allentown could have one more place to park.

And someday, they could also have a new spot to live and shop.

On Tuesday, representatives of the Allentown Parking Authority presented plans for a new 1,000-space parking garage at the corner of Sixth and Walnut streets, on the site of the authority's existing Community Lot. In response to continuing growth in the city's Neighborhood Improvement Zone, the plans call for the new garage to accommodate additional drivers downtown — particularly during the day.

But the proposal introduced to the city's Planning Commission on Tuesday also opened the door for future development.

» The latest on traffic, delays and road construction delivered to your mobile phone. Click to sign up to receive text alerts!

As proposed, the new garage would be set back from both Walnut and Sixth streets by 50 feet, allowing space for a future mixed-used retail and residential building that has yet to be designed. A plaza would be built on the excess space temporarily and those sides of the garage would be engineered to accommodate a future building.

Todd Helmer, a principal and vice president for architectural firm Timothy Haah's & Associates, said designers explored using the entire site for a parking deck, but the mixed-use plan represents the "highest and best use" for the site.

Planning commissioners applauded the idea of shielding the garage from street view and the mixed-use proposal, but cautioned against installing an overly ornate plaza on a corner where it would likely receive little use.

"People talk about plazas and that sounds like a wonderful thing, but in this location, it's like lipstick on a pig," Chairman Oldrich Foucek III said. "It's not going to be attracting people by the droves to sit out here and play."

Commissioner Christian Brown said a simple green space would serve the same purpose.

"I think it's actually worse to have an over-designed and underused public space than to just have a nice green space," he said.

The garage, which would sit on a 1.85-acre lot, would be accessible at two elevator and stair banks: one at the southeast corner near Walnut and Law streets and another at Type and Sixth streets on the north end of the property.

With the first buildings in the NIZ already opening, the new garage won't be open in time to accommodate early visitors to new downtown destinations such as the PPL Center arena. The earliest the garage could receive approval from the city's planning commission would be Sept. 9, just three days before the arena's first event.

But commissioners did grant a waiver Tuesday allowing the developers to speed up the review process in hopes of breaking ground on the site in December. Construction is expected to take nine months, meaning the garage could open by September 2015.

Parking spaces will be at a premium in the city as buildings open. A parking study this year showed that Allentown's parking garages will be over capacity for sold out concert-type events at the new arena. The city does have enough spaces on surface lots to accommodate additional cars, but garages will have to be parked to 100 percent capacity, a move discouraged by industry standards.

The new garage on the Community Lot would largely cater to employees at Three City Center, a seven-story office building currently under construction on the former Colonial Theater site. That building is expected to open in 2015.

Officials said they are working on a plan to find alternative parking for the people with spots in the 220-space Community Lot while the garage is under construction.

Source: The Morning Call