Janesville business owners eagerly await parking ramp
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Brandon Hill, an employee of JP Cullen & Sons, drills through the standing water of a puddle, to create holes in the wooden forms of a drain box below the second floor of the new Janesville parking garage. The drain boxes are in place but the piping to run water away from the interior of the structure was not yet installed.
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The new Janesville parking ramp as seen from Wall St near the Main St. intersection.
JANESVILLE — With nearly seven months of sagging sales behind him, tavern owner Matt Schreier is “waiting with bated breath” for a new parking ramp to open in downtown Janesville.
Pat Wygans, another downtown tavern owner, is so looking forward to the May opening of the $4 million parking ramp at the corner of North Parker Drive and Wall Street that he’s planning a party around it.
Wygans owns Wiggy’s right next door to the ramp that has been under construction since September. Schreier owns The Looking Glass, which on North Main Street also abuts the project.
Both said sales have dropped since an 84-stall surface lot was ripped up to make way for the four-level parking ramp that will have nearly 240 spaces.
“I’ve had people tell me they haven’t come down as much because there’s no where to park,” Schreier said.
Wygans said construction workers sometimes stop into his bar after work. He’s routinely pestered them about when the ramp will be done and open.
That will happen May 20, said Brad Cantrell, the city’s community development director.
“It’s on schedule and on budget,” Cantrell said. “There have obviously been some inconveniences during the winter construction, but when it is done it will be a very nice, covered parking ramp that serves the Milwaukee/Main corridor.”
Drivers will be able to enter the structure off either Parker Drive or Wall Street. Cantrell said the ramp includes an elevator and will be brightly lit, features that weren’t part of the parking ramp on the same site that the city demolished in 2000.
A majority of the 239 spaces will be either two-hour or all-day parking. Others will be leased to nearby property owners.
The ramp is one of the city’s commitments to downtown revitalization.
As such, it was a component in Sara Investment Real Estate’s multimillion-dollar decision to buy and renovate the Helgesen Building, which has since been renamed Prospect 101 at the corner of Main and Milwaukee streets.
“Whenever we’re talking with prospective tenants, the first question out of their mouths is always about parking,” said Ryon Savasta of Sara. “That’s particularly true when you’re talking about downtown properties.
“With the new parking ramp, we’ve got a fantastic answer to that question.”
Sara bought the six-story, 52,400 square-foot office building in 2008 and has spent nearly $4 million renovating it.
Savasta said interest in the building is growing weekly, and negotiations are ongoing with two possible tenants.
“That’s what makes the timing perfect,” he said. “The new ramp will open soon, we’re coming out of the slowest leasing time of the year, and we’ve got a renovated building that’s ready to go.”
Apr 9, 2010 at 2:16 p.m.
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*tavern owner Matt Schreier is “waiting with bated breath” for a new parking ramp to open in downtown Janesville.*
I'm sure the cops are waiting with bated breathalyzers, too.
Apr 9, 2010 at 12:52 p.m.
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Sara Investment would not have undertaken its purchase and multi-million dollar renovation of the Helgesen Building without the ramp.
http://gazettextra.com/news/2008/jul/02/...
Apr 9, 2010 at 12:41 p.m.
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I also think it is a waste of tax payers money! What is wrong with parking on the street or in the lot there now? Now all the cars can be on the ramp and downtown can look more empty than it already is. Of course, bar owners are going to be happy with it, more ways to hide your vehicle and drive away happily drunk! Okay, start attacking me, I am waiting......
Apr 9, 2010 at 9:22 a.m.
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Napalm: I'm with you on what about the old ramp? It was the end of the world and an eyesore and we had to tear it down. So why a newer, bigger one? Sandman: Re: increased crime...huh?
Apr 8, 2010 at 9:05 p.m.
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The glass may be half full, but what is it half full of?
Apr 8, 2010 at 8:31 p.m.
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There was a great view from the top of the old one.
Apr 8, 2010 at 5:03 p.m.
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"Janesville business owners eagerly await parking ramp"--as do the the local rapists and robbers!
Apr 8, 2010 at 4:50 p.m.
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The concrete on the old one was crumbling. It was several decades old, dangerous, and pretty cramped. I hope this one is more spacious and navigable.
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Charging for parking is probably not in the plans, as it discourages people from coming downtown to do business.
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The only other site available was the mid-block lot between Main and Parker a block south. I preferred that one, but the city decided for various reasons the old site was still the best.
Apr 8, 2010 at 4:18 p.m.
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Beloit has done well with it's downtown revitalization--with events like the Artwalk, film festival, farmer's market, etc...I don't understand why Janesville's downtown area can't break out of the rut it is in.....
Apr 8, 2010 at 11:30 a.m.
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MisterAmigo & MooShoo - LMAO, too!!!!
Apr 8, 2010 at 11:07 a.m.
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There'll be a lot of parking spaces available if the paranoids stay out of there.
Apr 8, 2010 at 10:58 a.m.
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Looks just like the one they removed. Seems like we should have repaired the old one.
Apr 8, 2010 at 10:32 a.m.
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Forward Janesville members made out on this deal!
Apr 8, 2010 at 9:41 a.m.
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Thanks fishingal for the comment. People are so negative about everything. I think the parking ramp is great. I never understood why they tore down the last one. Hopefully, they will charge for parking like Madison does to help pay for it.
Apr 8, 2010 at 9:14 a.m.
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If you would read the article, more businesses will come to downtown BECAUSE of the newly added parking.
Can't see the glass as half full, always half empty, eh?
Apr 8, 2010 at 7:39 a.m.
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My $1 calculator tells me that taxpayers paid $25,000 per added parking space.
Apr 7, 2010 at 9:34 p.m.
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It won't be long before someone decides to take the short cut from level 4 to the street!
Apr 7, 2010 at 9:30 p.m.
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Amigo, LMAO @ your comment. Parking structure = drunk ant farm.
Apr 7, 2010 at 8:55 p.m.
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If you're seriously pounding em down, wouldn't you maybe want to steer shy of the parking garage with the patrol car sitting stealth in the parking lot across the street? Or would you just be drunk enough to be like, "Hey, this quadruple-decker entrapment corral looks like as good a place as any..."
...as you weave in, clipping the side of the building.
Apr 7, 2010 at 6:35 p.m.
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I can just imagine JPD is going to have to keep a beat officer patrolling this thing on weekends all summer long. Downtown, near several bars... what a magnet for criminal activity.
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