Jackson Free Press

Jackson Redevelopment Authority board members agree something needs to be done with the unsightly Jackson Place parking garage ramp on Capitol Street. However, they don't seem to know just what to do.

JRA owns the parking garage, located at the corner of East Capitol and Farish streets, and the ground-level retail space below it. The ramp serves as an entrance to the garage from Capitol Street. The ramp blocks the ground floor of the building from street view, though, hurting the potential for successful retail space in the building.

In 2010, the state awarded JRA a $2 million grant to fund internalizing the ramp, the Jackson Free Press reported in July of that year. However, some JRA members said at a meeting last Wednesday that they do not want to internalize the ramp because it would require losing a portion of the building's potential retail space. Also, according to estimates by former garage and retail space tenant Parkway Properties, it would cost about $1.8 million of the available $2 million just to prepare the building for the new ramp. That would leave far too little money in the current budget to build it.

The second roadblock to the construction is the building's new tenant, Hertz, who recently purchased all of Parkway Properties' holdings in Jackson. Parkway helped with previous plans for the ramp's removal. But now that Hertz is renting and maintaining the building, JRA has to get them to agree to any changes.

JRA attorney Pernila Brown said at the meeting that it makes more sense to get Hertz involved in the planning than to present them with a finished proposal and hope they accept it. That's why she presented a proposal to the JRA board for a memorandum of understanding that gets Hertz involved from the start.

"The plan, if you will, will ultimately be devised by the working efforts of the city, Hertz, JRA and any other party that might be involved, since they all have interest," Brown said.

The memorandum of understanding also includes an agreement that Hertz will not seek compensation for any parking spaces lost in the new design, as long as no more than 40 spaces are lost. The involved parties will discuss the plans and ultimately have to agree to sacrificing parking spaces or of retail space.

One idea mentioned at the meeting was moving the ramp to Farish Street. Doing so could impede development between the Jackson Convention Center and the proposed Farish Street entertainment district that the JRA has been promoting, Brown said.

"I don't know what we'll do," JRA board member John Reeves said. "To me, moving one ramp from Capitol to Farish is just Tweedledee and Tweedledum. What we want to do is get rid of those nasty looking ramps and beautify the area."

The JRA board approved the memorandum of understanding to move forward with the city and Hertz on plans to remove the ramp.

"I'm concerned with how Jackson looks," Reeves said. "Whoever approved that (ramp) was just not thinking. We need to make the city look good."

Previous Commentsshow

Not a problem and for sure, not a priority. In an ecomomy where people are concerned about the State's infrastructure (unstable bridges, sreets in desperate need of repair and areas of continued flooding) one could easily understand this position. If the ramp is "ugly" in present location, it will also be ugly on Farish Street. Am I missing something here?

justjess

May 25 2012

Surely they could have done better with the design here. The ramp in its present location is an egregious affront to pedestrians on Capitol Street. I agree that merely moving it to Farish Street would be a repetition of the first mistake. Creative thinking is obviously needed here. ""Internalizing" the ramp may be the only acceptable option from an aesthetic standpoint. Is it an immediate priority? Perhaps not, but it ought to be dealt with before Farish Street is up and running. Losing a number of parking spaces is preferable than a permanent affront to visitors, and especially so at a time when the city is remaking its downtown core into something which both residents and visitors can enjoy alike.

Barnes Thomas

May 25 2012