State plans new parking deck

Virginia is preparing to build a $16 million parking deck on land it just bought in downtown Richmond.

Pending approval by the General Assembly, the state plans to issue bonds to build the 1,000-space deck at Seventh and East Franklin streets on a surface parking lot it bought this week for $4 million from a Fredericksburg company.

The deck will serve state employees at 600 E. Main St., a 24-story office building purchased by the state last year, but it won't help the Richmond CenterStage performing-arts center, as once envisioned.

Last summer, officials for the state and a local parking authority discussed possible construction of one deck and complete renovation of a second in the block facing the performing-arts center on East Grace Street. That idea fizzled in the fall because of the cost and concerns about ownership.

"We just decided to part friends and go in different directions," said Richard F. Sliwoski, director of the Department of General Services, who confirmed the purchase of the parking lot for the new deck early this week.

Officials for the performing-arts center expect to complete an agreement next week with the Broad Street Community Development Authority to provide 228 parking spaces for the center, which is scheduled to open in September. The agreement will govern use of 124 spaces in a surface parking lot owned by the authority at Sixth and East Grace streets, and 94 spaces in an incomplete deck it operates at Sixth and East Franklin streets.

More than 600 spaces already will be available for CenterStage on weeknights and weekends in a state-owned garage at Seventh and East Marshall streets under an agreement announced last month.

Construction of the state deck on Franklin Street depends on legislative approval of a bill to allow sale of $16 million in bonds to pay for it. The legislation, introduced by Del. Lacey E. Putney, I-Bedford, includes an emergency clause so that it could take effect after passage by both houses and signing by the governor.

Sliwoski said the state already has advertised a request for qualifications by developers to design and build the deck, which could be under construction by summer and completed the following year.

The 600 E. Main building, formerly headquarters of Verizon Virginia, will house the Virginia Department of Taxation, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. Currently, the building's underground parking deck has about 300 spaces to serve offices with more than 400,000 square feet of space.

Sliwoski said the purchase of the office building and plans for the deck "demonstrate that we're committed to the center city."

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or .