Palm Avenue Parking Garage Nears Completion

Next week downtown Sarasota patrons will be able to use the new Palm Avenue Parking garage for the first time. The garage is scheduled to be ready for use Dec. 29. 

The finishing touches are now underway, which includes painting, installing railings and striping parking spaces. 

A temporary certificate was granted to Suffolk Construction, the contractor building the garage, to allow the facility to be used next week. 

The project supervisor, Mary Ellen Maurer, said that means the job is not entirely done but it is complete enough for public use. 

"The retail was never planned to be finished [by the end of the year," she said. "Whoever purchases it can build it up the way they want to,"  said Maurer of the garage's first floor retail space. 

Planned parking meters and the exterior of the garage will not be completed by next week, either. Maurer said the exterior, decorative 'sails' will begin to be put up next week and will have a two-week time frame for completion. 

The parking meters, Maurer said, will be installed at a later date. 

Located on Palm Avenue and just north of the Main Street intersection, the six story parking garage will have 743 parking spaces, 20 motorcycle spaces and 80 bicycle spaces.    It also will include 12,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground level.  The top parking deck , the city said, will offer a panoramic view of Sarasota Bay, and city administrators are considering the possibility of renting the space for special events.  

The project cost approximately $12.2 million using tax increment funds from the downtown Community Reinvestment Agency.