Downtown Gainesville parking deck construction slated for March

GAINESVILLE - It looks like downtown Gainesville will get to hold onto the Georgia Mountains Center Parking deck a little while longer.

The current deck won't come down until replacement parking is available, according to City Manager Bryan Shuler.

That replacement parking will be at the site of the old Greater South Building property near the mountains center; the city bought it last year and takes possession next month.

"And we will immediately begin to remove that structure and create a surface parking facility there," Shuler said.

Last year City Council announced the city would wait until after Christmas to begin demolishing the parking deck. Work on the $5.5 million project was expected to begin this month but is now projected for March.

"It's planned to be four stories and have in excess of 400 parking spaces which is 200 more than it has today," Shuler said. "We're trying to coordinate those two projects so that we don't have a major void in parking downtown."

Shuler expects the new deck should be ready by early fall.