SPARTANBURG— With construction slated to start this month on a new joint city-county government complex, the parking lot that once served City Hall and recently shuttered businesses has long provided free parking to downtown workers and visitors will soon close.
The free lot on Broad Street will close at 8 p.m. Oct. 5 in preparation for construction.
This follows the closure of Blue Moon and Nautilus Fitness Center, with the city buying both properties to use for the new building that will be funded by a 1-percent sales tax passed in 2017.
Located near the walkable Morgan Square and several blocks from the new downtown Fifth Third Park baseball stadium where the Spartanburgers play, this lot provides convenient, free parking for many downtown visitors and workers.
Dana Moore, who works at Delaney’s Irish Pub, said losing the parking lot leaves her, other employees and residents with little time to find a new place to park.
“I am concerned for people who own businesses or live downtown, and now they will be forced to go park several blocks away,” she said.
The city is implementing a few initiatives to ease the transition: free parking passes for the nearby garages through the end of the year, half-price monthly passes in the future and a free shuttle service that launches Oct. 7 for business patrons.
According to city spokesperson Christopher George, the first order of the upcoming construction is a parking garage in the same place as the Broad Street lot. This structure is planned to take nine months to complete and will have upward of 900 spaces, making it the largest downtown garage.
Some locals appeared surprised by the closure and wondered if the lot closing would affect downtown foot traffic — and businesses.
George said that avoiding disruption of business patterns was the strongest reason for creating these plans for parking adjustments ahead of time, getting people acclimated to the use of parking garages.
“We want to minimize the impact for our downtown visitors and businesses,” George said, “We have enough parking spaces (downtown), so we are about changing behavior.”
Parking in these garages will remain free on the weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays. The downtown garages also offer free two-hour parking.
The joint city-county building is part of a drastic transformation of downtown. The Spartanburg County Courthouse opened last year, followed by Fifth Third Park in April. Just across from the future site of the city-county building lies the nearly completed planetarium, poised to open this month. And where the Herald-Journal building once stood, a hotel will soon rise.