Where to Park Amid Ongoing Construction at the CAC

A view of the entrance to the underground parking lot and the walkway to the CAC which is still being poured.
Things are going to change after September 29 – that’s the last day county employees and the public will be able to park in the north lot at the CAC. On September 30, the new underground parking garage will open to the public, elected officials and assigned staff.  General Services will close the north building entrance and fence off the north lot to begin work on the next section of the waterfront park.

So, where will other County employees go to park? Let’s start with parking for those employees coming to the CAC for meetings.

The new 96,000-square-foot underground parking structure, which can be accessed from Ash Street, will have 250 parking spaces said Suzanne Evans, Waterfront Park project manager. The majority of those spots - 178 of them- are for our customers, disabled parking, and people attending public hearings.

Employees in their personal vehicles who are traveling to the CAC for meetings or other business may park in the public spaces in the underground garage, which now have a three-hour time limit to accommodate longer appointments, Evans said. Those in a County vehicle can park in metered spaces on the street for free.  

The other 72 spaces will be reserved spots for assigned county employees and department vehicles, she said.

The underground garage will be outfitted with security cameras in the stairwell and throughout the garage. Existing cameras on the building lookout to the construction area and along the lighted and fenced-in walkway to the south door of the CAC, said Evans. Two security guards will also patrol the lot in the day and another guard will be assigned to it after hours.

ABM parking will operate paid public parking in the new garage after hours and on weekends, but CAC employees who work late or on holidays and weekends may park in the public spaces in the underground parking garage as long as they display their County parking permit and have their badge. People who park in the reserved spaces may be ticketed unless the space is assigned to them.

New parking permits will be distributed to CAC employees who previously parked in the north lot and are not assigned to the underground lot. Those employees will be assigned to a new lot at Ash Street and Kettner Boulevard, to Lane Field or the Broadway north parking lot. Employees already assigned to Lane Field or Broadway North parking lot will remain in their assigned lots.

Shuttle service will continue to make two stops on the way to the CAC. The shuttle is stationed at Lane Field in the mornings and picks employees up there and at the Broadway north lot then continues to the CAC east entrance. In the afternoon and again at the end of the day, the shuttle stations itself at the CAC east entrance to take employees back to their vehicles.

On Dec. 2, General Services will begin construction on the CAC’s new employee parking structure at Cedar Street and Kettner Boulevard. That means November 29 is the last day CAC employees can park in the Cedar and Kettner lot. Employees assigned there will receive new parking permits for either the Broadway north or Lane Field parking lot.  

The new 10-level employee parking structure with approximately 650 spaces is set to be completed in early summer 2015, said Dave Timber, project manager for the Cedar-Kettner parking garage. The structure will have three underground levels, seven levels above ground and will be integrated with the Little Italy-County Center trolley stop, he said.

The employee garage will have a glass elevator with views to the west and north and a temporary plaza on the street level that will include outdoor furniture and trees, said Timber.

To learn more about the Waterfront Park project, including a map of employee parking lots, visit the  CAC Waterfront Park Construction page on InSite.