EVERETT — Like many of the vintage vehicles that cruised through Snohomish County’s new underground parking garage on Friday, the just-opened $29 million structure is built to last.
The garage is the first major component to be open as part of the county government campus renovation in downtown Everett. The$170 million makeover includes an expansion of the county jail, a new administration building and a public plaza.
Larry Van Horn, director of facilities management for the county and head of the county campus redevelopment project, said the new parking garage should have a life span of at least 50 years.
"It’s an asset we’ll have for many years to come," Van Horn said.
The garage, which stretches down six floors and is 90 feet deep on the corner by the courthouse, opened Friday for limited use by county employees. Officials celebrated the opening with a parade of classic cars through the garage. Van Horn took the wheel of his wife’s 1966 Ford Mustang.
The 1,200-plus-stall garage opens to the public on Monday. For hockey fans, that’s just in time for the last two weeks of the Everett Silvertips’ regular season at the nearby Everett Events Center. That should make it easier for fans to find parking.
It also opens in time for the first Everett Boat Show, which starts Wednesday at the events center
Still, work on the garage isn’t done.
Van Horn said some windows and signs still need to be installed. The top deck, which will be a public plaza, needs a coat of waterproof sealant, and a layer of finish concrete will be put on top of that this summer. The plaza also will be landscaped in the fall.
The three garage elevators should be ready for use once they pass inspection on Monday morning.
Even so, county officials say the new building at Oakes Avenue and Wall Street is ready for use.
"The garage is really quite functional. It’s a perfect opportunity to get it open for the employees and the visitors coming to the county," Van Horn said. "I think it’s a pretty significant milestone."
Work on the structure began in October 2002. It replaces the county’s original 503-stall garage, which was torn down to make room for the new one and the new county administration building, which should be finished by February 2005.
Nearly 22,500 cubic yards of concrete was used to build the underground, 383,000-square-foot garage. More than 8,000 cables were embedded in the columns, beams and seven concrete decks to strengthen the structure. All told, about 1,100 tons of reinforcing steel rods were used.
The garage was built to withstand earthquakes, and more than 25 ventilation fans have been installed to feed carbon monoxide into a monitoring system.
So far, 624 parking stalls have been claimed for use by the county and its employees. Workers will use a card-key system to get in and out, while the public will take tickets and pay on the way out.
Republic Parking Northwest Inc. will manage the garage, as well as the county’s 100-stall parking lot at the corner of Wall Street and Oakes Avenue.
Drivers may park free for 30 minutes in the underground garage and the surface lot.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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