By BEX Staff for AZBEX
After protracted arguments as to where to build a new parking garage for downtown Scottsdale, City Council has chosen a compromise path that will construct both options.
The debate started after Scottsdale voters approved a $20.9M bond issue in 2019 that included three possible locations for the garage. All three locations were south of Indian School, which made the usefulness for downtown somewhat suspect.
Local news sources report that in April of this year, Public Works Director Dan Worth presented a proposal that would build garages in the northeast and southeast quadrants of downtown, one that adds to the garage at 1st and Brown and one that is a new construction at Stetson Drive and 6th Avenue.
After repeated, and occasionally heated, discussions in the Mayor and Council chambers over the past few months, the factions came together July 1 to recommend both garages. The garage at 1st and Brown avenues will use $15.2M in bond money for a two-story structure, while $14.9M in general fund monies will go toward a one-story garage at 6th and Stetson. The remaining bond money from the original designation will be put toward other projects on the bond list.
In a follow-up email discussion with BEX research staff, Worth clarified the project statuses and timelines. “We have not selected a design firm for the NE Quadrant Parking Garage. We will be doing a public procurement, (and) at this point we are considering a design-build delivery method. That solicitation should come out this summer.”
He added the addition of two decks to the existing 1st & Brown Garage “will also be a public procurement, with a timeline similar to the one for the NE Quadrant Garage.”
