Palo Alto Council Approves New Calif. Avenue Parking Structure

PALO ALTO, CA -- Hundreds more parking spaces are coming to the city sometime in the next couple of years under an action approved by the City Council during its latest meeting.

The Council voted unanimously on April 3 to build a larger parking garage without any retail, and increase the number of spaces by more than 300 at the lot on Sherman Avenue and Birch Street. Monday’s decision calls for a four-story garage that includes an additional two underground levels, bringing a total of 636 spaces to the garage in the California Avenue business district.

The structure's expected to be a little more than 36 feet tall and nearly doubles the number of spots originally envisioned two years ago, according to the City of Palo Alto.

The timeline for the $34.8 million project calls for completing the environmental report in December and then breaking ground on the structure next year.

In order to minimize construction in the area, the city has said it would finish the garage in the summer of 2019, before starting to build a new public safety building on nearby Birch Street.

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