Downtown District president insists the city needs a new downtown parkade

Doug Neumann, president/CEO of the Downtown District, was quick on the draw Thursday to insist that the downtown, in fact, does need a new parkade - contrary to a parking firm's report Wednesday evening to the City Council.

Neumann on Thursday said the conclusion of Jon Rouse, the general manager in Cedar Rapids for Republic Parking System, was correct if you think the downtown stops at Sixth Avenue SE.

However, Neumann said the city definitely needs a new parkade somewhere between Sixth and Eighth avenues SE to provide parking for the new federal courthouse and other hoped-for development near it.

Neumann said the need for parking will become “acute” once the courthouse opens in the fall of 2012.

“If we don't want to significantly hinder this community's efforts at job creation and economic development, we do, indeed, need a new parking ramp in the vicinity of the new federal courthouse,” he said.

Neumann noted that his office has been working “very, very hard” to figure out a way to fund a new parkade on Second Street SE between Sixth and Seventh avenues SE. The cost of a new parkade has been put at $20 million.

In his presentation to the City Council on Wednesday evening, Republic's Rouse said his firm's study of Cedar Rapids parkades found that 918 parkade spaces currently are not in use at peak parking times. Rouse said that really equates to some 1,400 available spaces if the city correctly oversells spaces to accommodate users at different times of the day.

Council member Monica Vernon said she viewed any new parkade as a catalyst for economic development downtown, and she asked Rouse where he would put one if one is built.

Rouse said parking ramps should be built on the fringe of a downtown and not on valuable property suitable for private development.

Neumann on Thursday said “fringe” cannot mean making people walk six blocks from a parkade to work. He said his idea of a parking ramp is one with commercial activity on the ground level and with a design that makes it look like something other than a parkade.

Neumann and the Downtown District advocated that the city hire Republic to manage the city's parking system. Republic began the job in August.

Neumann said on Thursday that Republic, “as a newcomer to town,” may not be aware of all the downtown parking dynamics. Rouse gave his report Wednesday evening flanked by the city's finance director, Casey Drew. His report included an analysis of available city-owned surface parking lots beyond Eighth Avenue SE.