In Auburn, parking always seems to pose a bit of a problem. Two years ago the City of Auburn sought to remedy this—by purchasing a plot of land from the Alabama Baptist State Convention. Auburn’s new downtown parking deck is promising, but it may not be ready for up to another year or longer.
A Place to Park
Auburn’s new downtown parking deck would rest at 135 N. College St., a tract stretching from North College Street to Wright Street. At this time, city officials peg the planned deck’s capacity at 300 to 350 public parking spaces. The new Baptist Student Center would be housed on the lowest level of Auburn’s new downtown parking deck.
Current building plans measure the deck at 71 feet high, 75 feet tall at the parapet, with the stairway enclosure standing at 85 feet. The city’s zoning ordinance allows for parapets and stairway enclosures to exceed structure height allowances, as they are not considered a part of the structure’s actual height.
Officials have stated that they wished Auburn’s new downtown parking deck would coincide with potential parking cuts, such as those at AuburnBank. AuburnBank plans to redo its property at some point in the future, which would also include the parking lot. The new parking deck, however, may not mesh with AuburnBank’s timeline. This could lead to a parking shortage for downtown employees for a time.
For now, the city will be accepting bids for Auburn’s new downtown parking deck into early next year. Officials estimate that construction will begin sometime near or after February 2020, and the structure may be completed nine months to a year from that point. The city expects that once this new structure is standing, some of Auburn’s parking problems will be alleviated.
Summary
We may sometimes have trouble parking, but that might just mean that Auburn is booming. It sure is from a lot of vantage points. Looking to make Auburn home? Trying to get in on the real estate ventures happening down here on the Loveliest Village on the Plains?
Contact Ryan Roberts here for all your real estate needs. He serves the Auburn, Opelika, and Lake Martin areas—and can help you buy, rent, or sell. For more news on the area, especially in regards to real estate, keep following our blog.