New Annapolis Garage, Park Paid For By Private Companies As City Fights Climate Change

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Annapolis lawmakers decided this week to support a financial agreement that will bring a new parking garage and a park to downtown. This is part of the city's plan to revitalize its infrastructure and increase its resiliency to climate change.

"We know two things," Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said Monday at a City Council meeting. "The water is rising, and we know that the garage is crumbling."

The city is now preparing to close the Noah Hillman Garage at an unknown date later this month. Workers will then demolish the structure, which is more than 40 years old, and build a bigger garage on the same property.

The five-story garage is scheduled to open at 150 Gorman Street in May 2023. Patch asked when the park at City Dock will be done. We will update this story when Annapolis leaders respond to us.

The 588-space garage will cost $28 million, and the park will take $35 million. The city isn't paying for the developments alone, however.

RELATED: Hillman Garage To Close Soon For Demolition, Reconstruction

Paying For Downtown Revamp

Several companies will pay for the garage construction in a public-private partnership called a P3.

This group, known as the Annapolis Mobility & Resilience Partners, will also give the city $20 million to $25 million. Annapolis will use this money to build the elevated park at City Dock. Leaders hope this will reduce flooding as rising sea levels threaten downtown.

In return, the Annapolis Mobility & Resilience partners will get the garage's parking revenues for its first 30 years of operation. The partners will also pay for the maintenance and assume all the risk over those three decades.

The city will still own the structure the entire time. Annapolis will also collect about $1 million in garage revenues annually to help fund its public transportation system.

All the public details of this deal, known as a concession agreement, are posted here.

The Annapolis City Council voted Monday to support the deal. This motion, titled R-9-22, passed unanimously.

After the partners' contribution to the park, Annapolis will still need to pull together $10 million to $15 million to fund the rest of the City Dock project. Annapolis will cover this price tag itself or seek grants from the state and federal government.

How We Got Here

Leaders favored the public-private approach after realizing the city couldn't safely pay for the downtown construction itself. Elected officials worried about assuming too much debt or selling too many bonds, Capital Gazette journalist Brooks DuBose reported last week at a City Council Finance Committee meeting.

Despite concerns, officials still think an upgrade is necessary.

“Risk - that is the key to what makes this deal worthwhile," City Manager David Jarrell said in a Sunday press release. "Of course, relieving the taxpayer of the burden of financing this major capital project through traditional bond issuance is a significant benefit, but I believe the strength of this agreement is that the City is transferring, and AMRP is assuming, the risk for the project."

Leaders said the 425-space garage was at the end of its service life in 2013. Engineers started considering a replacement in 2017.

The city started taking bids in August 2019. It signed a predevelopment agreement with the construction partners in December 2020.

The Annapolis Mobility & Resilience Partners are composed of:

• Amber Infrastructure/Hunt (Developer)
• Whiting Turner (Design build contractor)
• BCT Architects (Master planner)
• Walker Parking Consultants (Lead designer for the Noah Hillman Garage)
• WSP (Lead designer for City Dock)
• Mahan Rykiel (Landscape architect)
• Premium Parking (Parking operator)
• Via (Mobility solutions)

Battling Climate Change

The construction is part of a $63 million effort to floodproof Annapolis and battle rising sea levels. This vision is called "Reimagining City Dock." It is slated to be the biggest infrastructure project in the town's history.

The new park would replace the City Dock Lot and convert the nearby Donner Lot into another green space. Annapolis additionally suggested raising the promenade along Ego Alley to be the same height as the existing bulkheads.

This would combat ongoing climate change in one of the city's most vulnerable areas. Last autumn's inundation showed that susceptibility, bringing Annapolis a 4.9-foot tidal surge during the town's fourth-worst flood on record.

City Dock flooded 65 times in 2019, a 2021 press release said. The release predicted that the site could flood 350 days each year by 2040.

Annapolis also estimated that it will have to spend $45 million on four miles of sea walls by 2040 to limit that inundation. That equates to $1,159 per capita.

"If we are going to take care of our residents and honor our important history as a community, we need to be resilient in the face of climate change," Buckley said in a 2021 press release. "Mitigating the impacts of climate change is expensive."

These strategies could improve the flooding forecast, but they would decommission plenty of parking spots.

That's where the new Noah Hillman Garage comes in.

The structure is slated to have 163 more spots than the current garage. That would offset the parking losses around City Dock and add 40 to 50 total spaces to Annapolis.

Both builds should be done in less than five years.

A September 2021 City Council work session included a full outline of the construction. That discussion is viewable here.

More information and sketches are posted at annapoliscitydockproject.com.

Parking Options During Construction

The 14-month garage rebuild won't affect residential parking.

The city will transfer all monthly passes at Noah Hillman to either the Gotts Court or Knighton garages. Permit holders can call (443) 648-3087 or visit annapolisparking.com for more details.

Officials said there will still be 3,400 garage and lot spaces for downtown visitors during the project.

“We all need to support local businesses during the rebuilding process," Buckley said in a Feb. 23 press release. “We know that when it is complete, the new garage will be an amazing asset with more parking, better environmental controls and features, easier payments, better lighting, and more safety features. This will be a garage that takes our City into the future.”

The city recently launched accessannapolis.com, a new website to help guests plan their downtown trips. The webpage lists parking options and transportation services. It will also show a live stream of the construction and send out newsletters with project updates.

The five other Annapolis garages will stay open. The city encouraged visitors to park in the nearby Calvert Street, Gotts Court or Whitmore garages. Planners will incentivize using the Park Place Garage, which is on the outskirts of downtown, by lowering its rates during the build.

Every parking lot will remain available. Basil, Donner, Larkin and South Street are the closest downtown lots.

The Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium lot is closer to the city limits, but it has 4,000 spaces. The State Shuttle will shuffle drivers to and from downtown every 20 minutes. It costs $2 per trip.

The free Annapolis Circulator will run every 8 to 10 minutes along the West Street corridor.

An electric trolley will connect the Gotts Court and Whitmore garages with Dock Street, Main Street, Market Space, Maryland Avenue and State Circle. Anybody can flag down this eight-seat vehicle along its route. The open-air cart will come every five minutes.

The city also partnered with the Via mobile application to offer on-demand rides around key locations. This will connect the Gotts Court, Knighton and Park Place garages to sites along Dock Street, Duke of Gloucester Street, Main Street and State Circle.

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RELATED:

• Hillman Garage To Close Soon For Demolition, Reconstruction
• Mayor Gives Hillman Garage Update
• Annapolis To Give Update On Noah Hillman Garage Redevelopment
• Annapolis Flood Was 4th-Worst In City's Recorded History
• Electric Vehicles On Display At Go-Green Event In Annapolis
• Stantec Selected For Resilience Review For Naval Support, AA Co, And Annapolis
• Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Announced In Annapolis
• Naval Academy May Repair Sea Walls To Protect The Yard: Report
• Anne Arundel Sues Fossil Fuel Companies Over Climate Damage
• Annapolis Battles Sea-Level Rise, Plans To Overhaul City Dock
• Annapolis Sues Gas Companies, Seeks Damages For Climate Change

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