Parking Deck Could Fuel New Downtown Ferndale Businesses

Ferndale, MI — City officials expect to select asite for a mixed-use parking deck that could include offices, retail space or residential units by the end of the month.

“Our goal is to break ground on a parking deck, and we expect to have a site identified by the end of July,” Mayor Dave Coulter told The Daily Tribune.

Increasing the downtown parking inventory is a key to attracting more retail, office and residential units and limiting the number of new bars and restaurants serving alcohol, a stated goal by the Downtown Development Authority and others.

Businesses with alcohol permits fill about half of all downtown business spaces.

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Geo-technical and environmental test results on two sites — the parking lot on the west side of City Hall on East Nine Mile Road and the Troy Street parking lot at Allen Road west of Woodward Avenue — will guide the Parking Advisory Committee’s selection process.

Once a site and concept options are selected, the project will move to the public input process, Assistant City Manager Joseph Gacioch told The Daily Tribune.

It’s unclear how much the parking deck would cost — the figure would be in the millions of dollars — but the project would be paid for over time from the auto parking fund, supported by parking fees and tickets.

Image credit: Ashley MacKinnon MacKinnon via Flickr / Creative Commons