Parking garage to open in January
Uniontown Mayor James R. Sileo said Friday that the new parking garage on Penn Street would open on Jan. 4 following a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony. “The ribbon cutting for the new parking garage will be on Jan. 4 at 10 a.m.,” Sileo said. “That’s official.”
Construction started in October 2005 and was initially scheduled to be finished in July of this year, but the addition of 50 parking spaces and various construction delays pushed back the completion date.
The original plans for a $3.4 million, 21/2-story structure with 220 parking spaces were changed in May when City Council approved adding 50 spaces using $600,000 in additional state funding.
The finished product is a $4 million, three-story garage with 270 spaces.
Complementing the city’s old 290-space garage on South Street, the new structure was designed to allow three more levels to be added to the top if more parking spaces are needed in the future.
“That’s why there’s no roof,” city Councilman Bob Cerjanec said.
All the cement in the structure was poured at the site and not prefabricated, Cerjanec added.
Sileo he believes the garage will help attract businesses to downtown.
“Eventually this place (downtown) is going to be packed,” Sileo said. “It’s going to be an asset to the city. It’s another milestone in the history of Uniontown.”
The windows in the mayor’s office provide a clear view of the garage and Sileo said he is looking forward to seeing the garage full of vehicles in the new year.
Parking rates at the garage will be $1 an hour, $6 a day and $40 a month, he said. Parking for special events in the evening will cost $2.
For construction, the city obtained a $3.15 million matching grant from the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP).
Council borrowed $2 million from a bank for the required dollar-for-dollar match and for initial construction financing.
In-kind contributions made up the rest of the match. Those contributions included about $1 million that Joseph A. Hardy III spent on Main Street streetscape improvements and $900,000 of the money Fayette County spent on renovating the Federal Building downtown.
Money for the 50-space addition came from a re-allocated $1.5 million RACP grant. Originally, $1 million of the grant money was supposed to be used to renovate the former YMCA building on Gallatin Avenue and the remaining $500,000 was to be forwarded to Community Action of Fayette County for a building project.
However, the state approved re-allocating $900,000 to Community Action and $600,000 to the garage expansion.
Change orders have totaled $20,200.