The Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority has hired local architect NBBJ to design a parking garage for their parcel on Goodale Street just north of the Convention Center. The authority currently operates a surface parking lot on the site, which holds about 200 cars.
The new garage would accommodate about 750 cars and may feature a mixed-use element; retail, restaurant or other uses that would likely be placed at western end of the site, closest to High Street.
“We will be putting out an RFQ in the next week or two, soliciting developer interest, to tell us what would work”, said Executive Director Bill Jennison, explaining that the idea is to “essentially extend the cap down Goodale Street.”
He said the new garage may be around five stories, but that and other details are to be worked out in the design process.
The new garage would free up space for future expansion into the convention center parking lot on Nationwide Boulevard between Third and Fourth Streets; an idea proposed in the 2010 Downtown Strategic Plan.
Jennison said it may be some time before that lot is developed, but acknowledged that “before we could develop that parcel, we’d need more parking, so that would be the first step – but the second step could take quite a while.”
When asked about the possibility of eventually adding a retail element along the convention center’s High Street frontage, Jennison did not shoot down the idea.
“We’re open to that; local developers in the past have expressed an interest in that idea,” he said, adding that, “as a part of this RFQ, if developers are interested in proposing something, now would be the time to consider it.”
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Photo via Google Maps.