OCALA, Fla. – A solution is on the way to help meet the demand for parking in downtown Ocala.
The city of Ocala already has a parking garage next to city hall with 400 spaces, however, some of those spaces are dedicated to the nearby Hilton Garden Inn.
The city still feels like downtown needs more parking, which is why a new second garage will have at least 800 spaces.
Beginning on Oct. 1, the City of Ocala will begin preparing the site of the new parking garage located at the Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. People can expect road closures along Third Avenue, parts of Southwest Broadway Street and Southwest Fort King Street.
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“So this project is to remove and relocate a stormwater main that is actually right now directly under the parcel that the garage is going to be on,” said Community Outreach Manager for the City of Ocala, Rachel Faustch.
Back in March, News 6 was there when the city held a town hall where they covered several topics including parking.
At the time, Faustch said the city needed 1,000 parking spots to meet the demand.
“We’ll have that guy will come on – he’ll be 800 spaces,” Faustch said. “Then we’re actually converting some of our private or our contract lots that we have right now that are privately held during the day, we have permit parkers in those lots. We’re converting those lots into public lots. So that’s going to be adding an additional over 50 spaces to our public inventory in that specific area.”
With the new parking garage and lots, Faustch said that will add an additional 850 spaces to the downtown area.
Businesses like Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille are excited about the extra parking.
“I think it’ll be very beneficial because there’s a little bit more parking for everybody,” Harry’s manager, Kelly Parker said.
Packer was also excited to hear about the size of the new parking garage.
“That’s going to be perfect, perfect,” Packer said. “Some of the people might not want to walk that far, but that definitely helps out a lot for sure.”
The city will hold a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23 beginning at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the first phase of the project that will start on Oct. 1.
Faustch said phase 1 should be complete by December and said they will continue to have public meetings to keep people updated on the project.
Construction on the garage is set to begin in early 2025 and last for a year.
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