Hendersonville Standard
HENDERSONVILLE WEATHER

Downtown parking garage could open sooner than expected




Gallatin and Sumner County leaders have verbally agreed to build a parking garage on East Smith Street near the intersection of South Water Avenue in downtown.SUBMITTED

Gallatin and Sumner County leaders have verbally agreed to build a parking garage on East Smith Street near the intersection of South Water Avenue in downtown.SUBMITTED

Sumner County officials say a parking garage in downtown Gallatin can be built sooner than originally planned in order to help alleviate concerns city officials expressed earlier this year about parking availability once construction of a new multi-million-dollar courthouse begins.

The garage, which would be built directly behind the Gallatin Public Library near the intersection of East Smith Street and South Water Avenue, had originally been expected to open alongside the new criminal justice center.

While that timeline has “definitely” changed in order to speed up construction of the parking garage, specific details about how much sooner it will open have not yet been determined, according to Sumner County Commissioner Leslie Schell who is chair of the county’s general operations committee.

“Anytime you build a building of this size and the magnitude that we will be building in the downtown footprint of a city there will be disruption,” Schell added. “The City of Gallatin is not used to something like this, so we will be working extremely closely with the city to try to minimize that.

“We know that we will be rearranging some parking, so we are definitely moving towards a timeline of how that would work.”

The county’s general operations and budget committees are scheduled to hold a joint meeting Sept. 9 to further discuss the courthouse and jail projects, which also include the parking garage.

In May, Gallatin city leaders verbally agreed to partner with Sumner County to build the garage in downtown. While no specific details about the partnership have been finalized, the multi-level structure is estimated to have approximately 450 parking spaces and would cost $9.5 million to design and build. 

Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown and other city leaders have expressed concerns in recent months about the impact the project would have on downtown businesses. 

“We were very worried about what was going to happen if all of the parking was taken up by the (new courthouse) construction,” Brown said. “This hopefully alleviates that issue, which is a good thing.”

Last year, Justice Planning Associated delivered its final report to county leaders outlining five projects the South Carolina-based judicial planning firm recommended be completed in order to address the county’s current criminal justice facility issues and future needs.

The suggestions included $78 million for the construction of a new courthouse, $10 million for jail and sheriff’s office expansions and $8.1 million for the renovation of the existing courthouse in downtown Gallatin, according to the report.

“This is an opportunity for us to put all of these courts together,” Sumner County Chancery Court Judge Louis Oliver told members of the Sumner County Commission about the plan last week. “This is done to benefit all of the citizens of Sumner County. This will provide security for everyone.

“It will also provide parking (and) it will keep the courthouse in downtown Gallatin.”

Sumner County commissioners voted earlier this year to purchase the First Baptist Church parking lot and student ministry center at the corner of East Main Street and South Boyers Avenue for $865,000 to be the site of the county’s new courthouse.

The church will also take ownership of the nearby Sumner County Juvenile Courthouse property as part of the deal with a portion of the money also being used to add additional parking along East Smith Street.

With the commission’s approval, Sumner County Finance Director David Lawing told county leaders Aug. 19 that the “most timely” way to complete the courthouse and parking garage projects would be to borrow between $85 million and $90 million during the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Construction of a new courthouse is expected to take approximately two years to complete, according to county leaders involved with the project. A parking garage is expected to take one year to build.

“We are very excited about what this will break for both the city and the county as it serves the public in multiple ways,” Schell said about the project. “I really think it’s going to be a good thing all the way around.”

Leave a Reply