Better use of parking garage

[sunshine]

 

Since we have countless of asphalt parking lots in Orlando....just think it is interesting that I come across this concept. Building a park on top of the garage (even though it doesnt look like a parking garage in this pic).

 

Imagine mall of millenia was surronded by green space with parking underneath....

 

hopefully Orlando city hall people that come here will see this..

[JFW657]

Beautiful!!!

 

But... that is a HUGE parking garage that looks to occupy an entire city block.

 

Could the much smaller parking garages around Orlando afford to lose their entire top floor of parking spaces?

 

And would our smaller garages even be worth turning into parks?

 

Would anyone visit them?

 

But I do love the concept!!!

 

Maybe the one at Fashion Square could be converted that way if the place is ever repurposed.

[FLClarkKent]

Very cool!

 

I see a lot of garages downtown during the week, and very rarely are there cars on the top levels. Who wants to park on the top level in the sun, anyway? Whether or not they could be converted to something like this is anyone's guess.

 

An even better use, IMO, would be to cover the top decks in solar panels, like OUC's solar farm. The panels at the OUC facility apparently double as covered parking.

 

http://www.ouc.com/en/residential/Solar/community_solar.aspx

[sunshine]

I didnt mean to add it in existing garage, it is too small to make any significant....

 

I am thinking maybe they can build a deck that cover up the entire surface parking lot of the mall and build a park on top of it. It can function as a tourist attraction and will also add traffic to the mall.

 

But, I do like the idea of solar panel. There are plentiful sunshine in Florida, instead of clearing out forest to build solar farm, put it on top of the garage, ie, Amway Center roof..........

 

I read an article recently about community garden, the top of garage in downtown can be used as community garden. Then that couple from college park dont have to plant in their front yard.

[FLheat]

I didnt mean to add it in existing garage, it is too small to make any significant....

 

I am thinking maybe they can build a deck that cover up the entire surface parking lot of the mall and build a park on top of it. It can function as a tourist attraction and will also add traffic to the mall.

 

But, I do like the idea of solar panel. There are plentiful sunshine in Florida, instead of clearing out forest to build solar farm, put it on top of the garage, ie, Amway Center roof..........

 

I read an article recently about community garden, the top of garage in downtown can be used as community garden. Then that couple from college park dont have to plant in their front yard.

At the VUE we are looking at a plan to put solar panels on our top parking level as a canopy next to the pool that would allow for us to change from gas heat for the pool, provide shade for the parking spots and also provide electricity to charge electric vehicles. 

[jgardnerucf]

At the VUE we are looking at a plan to put solar panels on our top parking level as a canopy next to the pool that would allow for us to change from gas heat for the pool, provide shade for the parking spots and also provide electricity to charge electric vehicles. 

 

Darden's garage is great with the solar panels and shade. Also, UCF's rec center garage is lighted from their solar panel farm alongside it.

[JFW657]

I love the idea of utilizing the tops of parking decks for solar collecting, but I wonder what some of the associated businesss might use the power for. If the deck in question is a relatively small one, in many cases, the amount of power generated might not make it worth the investment & associated maintenance costs.

Seems like some high rise office buildings with their own parking decks would benefit, as would Universal Studios, which has what may be the most massive parking structure in the state. Seems like they could benefit from all that unused air space above their garage being converted to electricity production.

[sunshine]

I swear they read our blog

 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-buy-some-ouc-solar-energy-20130317,0,1059014.story

[Captain.Metro]

You know, from living at 55W and looking down at the City Hall parking deck, it's fairly large and having this greenspace atop it would be a significant difference in the area. Especially when/if the hotel gets built at the SunRail station. Even more impressive would be to give the SunTrust Center parking deck the same treatment, then build a green pedestrian bridge connecting the two decks. IMO, having this greenspace outside the windows of offices would be an incentive to lure tenants while creating a quiet park space.