With groundbreaking closing in for the $350 million “Downtown North” redevelopment that includes a ballpark, hundreds of daily commuters who pay for surface parking betweeen Main and Market streets eventually will have to find new corrals for their vehicles — a move that means they will likely pay more to park in the Capital City.
Eric Boone, CEO/executive director of the Hartford Parking Authority (HPA), recently confirmed that the first 250 spaces in one of several lots his agency operates will be lost when Centerplan Development Co. of Middletown gets under way with initial site construction. A top Centerplan official previously has said early February is the target date for beginning the development’s first phase.
Later, as the project’s other construction phases, including housing, retail, offices and a parking garage, come on line, more of DoNo’s surface spaces will eventually disappear, Boone said.
The good news, he says, is that an HPA survey shows that 900 to 1,000 motorists daily actually use the DoNo surface lots, which means there is plenty of available capacity in downtown’s parking network to absorb those lost spaces.
However, the reality is, Boone said, that DoNo parkers who pay $80 plus taxes monthly to access those lots would see their monthly parking expenses climb from having to park in more expensive garages or other parking sites.
— Gregory Seay
Read more
