TULSA - As Tulsa’s downtown continues to expand and add businesses, more parking will also be needed to keep up with the amount of people living and working in the area.
The City of Tulsa is working with Price Family Properties to build a new parking garage which will sit near 4th and Main.
Downtown has been in need of more parking for quite some time, and now workers are more than half way from completing a project that will open up hundreds of spaces.
The plans for what the multi-layer garage will look like were revealed Thursday morning.
The colorful, $128 million parking complex will have 500 parking spots and include 3,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.
But until it’s ready to be used, those working in downtown like Zac McClintock, will have to struggle a little longer with crowded garages.
"If I come back from lunch I’m having to park up on the roof and there might be a spot," McClintock said. "So, could definitely use some more parking options."
Barrett Powers also works downtown and said there’s plenty of parking spaces downtown but not where it needs to be.
"There’s a lot of parking downtown but it’s in south downtown and sort of east by the Blue Dome District," Powers said. "There’s a lot of open air lots, but during the work week everyone is in the central part of downtown around here."
The garage will have two layers below ground and five above.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said they’re not just building a parking garage, but changing the way parking facilities look and operate.
"The fact that you’ll have retail and restaurant on the first floor, the street level that people will be able to utilize. The fact that the facade of it will be so beautiful. This is not a strictly utilitarian facility," Bynum said.
Powers and McClintock said the city is taking a step in the right direction, but more parking may be needed.
"I know 500 is certainly better than zero," Powers said.
"I want to see how this one goes and you can always go from here," said McClintock.
The garage has been in the works for about three years and is set to open within the next 50 to 100 days.
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