Wichita State wants regents’ approval for $7.2 million parking garage

Wichita State University is trying to build its first parking garage.

It could seek approval from the Kansas Board of Regents next month for an estimated $7.2 million garage to be built just south of the Rhatigan Student Center by spring 2018.

The school would pay for the parking garage through bonds repaid from parking revenue.

WSU president John Bardo said in a news release that the proposal is a response to complaints about inadequate parking in the central part of campus and hopes for long-term enrollment growth.

The parking garage would be available to faculty, staff members, students and visitors, said Lou Heldman, vice president for strategic communications. He added that although the garage would be on the south side of campus, it would help students with parking.

“From this spot, you can access a lot of the classroom buildings on the traditional campus,” Heldman said.

The garage would help replace some of the parking space lost to Shocker Hall, the residence hall that opened in 2014, Heldman said. He added it will handle some of the parking for visitors to the recently renovated student center.

Commuters would probably be able to either reserve a space annually or be charged a daily parking rate, he said. The university doesn’t know what the rates would be yet.

The final number of new parking spaces will depend on construction costs.

The lot south of the student center has 220 spaces now. Those spots would be lost during eight months of construction for the garage.

“That’s primarily a faculty-staff lot, so it’s not taking away any student parking,” Heldman said. He noted the lot was closed during renovation of the Rhatigan Student Center.

The university hopes to double the number of spaces, to 440, in the parking garage.

The Board of Regents and the Kansas Legislature would need to sign off on the plan.

WSU is trying to have the parking garage on the regents’ Feb. 17 agenda.

“If you were to assume Board approval, the next step would be for WSU to seek bonding authority from the state legislature,” regents spokesperson Breeze Richardson said in an e-mail.

If that is approved, the university would issue a request for proposals from builders and choose one – perhaps at the end of this year or early next year, Heldman said.

It should take about a year and a half to plan and construct the parking garage.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Wichita State wants regents’ approval for $7.2 million parking garage."