What’s coming up: Winter Garden parking garage

The downtown Winter Garden parking garage is on schedule for substantial completion by Sept. 1.

Substantial completion does not mean that all work is completed but that cars may begin to park in the garage on that date, according to city staff.

The two-story garage will have a ground floor with two supporting levels, meaning there will be three surfaces available for parking. In total, the garage will have 527 parking spots available, including 11 accessible spaces.  

The exterior walls on the building are complete, and the second floor and roof of the garage are installed. The rear stairs have also been installed. 

The bottom floor must still be poured, and the stucco must be added to the outside. Construction crews must also add trim work and put in lights, elevators and other electronic equipment. Ultimately, the garage will have two elevators and stairs at each of the four corners. 

The parking garage is being constructed at the intersection of South Boyd and Tremaine streets, on top of a busy existing parking lot. In order to compensate for the temporary closure of the lot, the city has used a few methods to ensure visitors can find parking.

First, city staff started a valet parking service for downtown visitors during weekend evenings. The service has gotten less use than city staff anticipated, City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said, with about 20 cars per night.

The city had temporary parking lots installed around the downtown area, providing visitors with 350 alternative parking spots. 

The lot at Smith and Main Street rarely has been filled, but it has been a place for construction workers to park without taking spots otherwise used by downtown visitors. 

The city’s most successful solution to parking comes on Saturday mornings, when the Winter Garden Farmers Market takes place along Plant Street. In order to compensate for the loss of parking spaces, the city has provided golf carts to shuttle people from the temporary parking lots to the farmers market. 

“That’s had extensive usage,” Bollhoefer said. 

Overall, the parking options have helped to mitigate parking problems that downtown business owners and their customers experience. 

“The negative effect from the parking garage hasn’t been near as significant as (business owners) expected, so most of our merchants have been pleasantly surprised,” Bollhoefer said. 

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].