Parking Garages in SC: Love 'em or hate 'em?

[goodbye]

As do I. The developer is still planning to build it, but waiting for the interest level to rise enough to offset the higher building costs. This would be the tallest building in the city and unofficially the tallest in the state. I kind of hope it gets a redesign or at least a better rendering to show off.

[krazeeboi]

^True.

[Spartan]

Wow, you'd think Greenville, Spartanburg and Rock Hill are the only cities in SC with garages.

Columbia and Charleston each likely have more garages than Greenville, Spartanburg, and Rock Hill put together.

I know USC has 4 with 1 more U/C and who knows how many more with all of the new stuff going in at Innovista.

That one in Arsenal Hill is for the Governor's Mansion staff, and other employees I think.

There are quite a few more in the CBD of Columbia too.

Charleston's newer ones are very will hidden- the one facing Marion Square on King St for example.

Even Clemson has one. Once we get a clear day I will try to go get some pics.

[GvilleSC]

I just wanted people to post pictures and discuss. Until I made that remark NO one outside those three cities had posted anything. I KNOW Columbia and Charleston have garages... bring them on, show them and discuss their qualities- good or bad.

[krazeeboi]

Here is the rendering for the Pendleton Street garage in downtown Columbia which will serve the Hilton convention center hotel under construction and the convention center itself. Picture courtesy of Coolumbia.net:

It will complement the convention center PERFECTLY; the design is awesome.

[Spartan]

Dang. Thats a nice garage.

I'm glad you brought this thread back up.

Anderson is planning its first garage downtown to be built behind the Chiquola building.

Here is a picutre of Clemson's garage that I found:

[sonofaque86]

Wow...The Pendleton St. garage looks like a regular building

[krazeeboi]

Yep; it closely resembles the convention center itself.

Is that street-level retail I see in the rendering?

[Spartan]

Yep; it closely resembles the convention center itself.

Is that street-level retail I see in the rendering?

I was in Columbia a few weeks ago, and I drove by the new Bull St garage, which has a very building-esque appearance to it. Its really cool.

Columbia requires that all public parking garages have street level retail. Private ones don't, but they encourage it. Thats why Meridian's garage has that one space for a shop.

[monsoon]

Columbia and Charleston each likely have more garages than Greenville, Spartanburg, and Rock Hill put together.

Hmm how about Myrtle Beach? Every highrise condo there has to provide 1 parking space/room. As a result large number of parking garages have been built as there is no room on Ocean Blvd to build huge parking lots. (and the land is too valuable anyway) Myrtle Beach's population swells to 450K during the summer and most of it is concentrated around Ocean Blvd.

This is an example of one.

[krazeeboi]

Now THAT'S a parking garage.

[Spartan]

This is true. Myrtle Beach does have a ton of garages. Probably more than Charleston and Columbia combined. I wonder how many of them are public?

[monsoon]

The highrise parking garage at the Pavilion is public, but I suspect most of the ones at the hotels are for their guests only. However I've never noticed in the ones that I have been in that there are not any kinds of controls on access. You can just drive in and out.

[g-man430]

What about the new CU-ICAR parking garage: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs..../602040314/1003 (old article)

[monsoon]

Since the thread says to post photos I will post a photo of a parking garage that is in Charlotte, and while it is not actually in SC it is one of the best designed garages in the Carolinas should be an example for how it should be done.

My biggest complaint about all of the garages posted above, is they are single purpose and creat huge dead spaces in cities. They don't engage the public and the only reason they exist are to hold vehicles even though some of them look really nice.

What is different about this garage is that at street level, it was designed to enhance the urban fabric. The base of it has a grocery store and two restaurants. It is surrounded by a plaza where people can eat outside and/or sit outside. And finally the building contains a secret. If you press on one of the colored columns, it light up and make a musical tone. If you know the secret and press all of the columns all in the correct order the building will make music for you and flash all the columns to the tune of the music.

Oh and you can park your car there too.

[g-man430]

The one at CU-ICAR is going to have offices, a coffee shop, a garden, display area, artwork, etc.

[Spartan]

Thats cool. I've seen that before, but I had no idea it was a garage!

[krazeeboi]

I knew that was a parking garage, but I didn't know it was a music box as well, LOL.

While that's a great design, I don't think it's realistic to expect all garages to conform to that standard. Besides having street level retail and a nice exterior, the most we can do is make the garages subterranean (like First Citizens tower's garage in Columbia) or have hidden parking. God knows the garages on Church St. are about as bland and single-purpose as you can get.

[krazeeboi]

Also, ICAR's garage referred to will definitely be one of the better garages in the Carolinas once completed as well. Excellent design:

Excerpts from the article:

...the garage that Clemson is building at the International Center for Automotive Research will have a glass office tower attached to it.

The four-story, 23,000-square-foot tower will house ICAR offices and a health club. It also will have a garden and patio on top and, on the bottom floor, a display area akin to an auto dealer's showroom. Large doors on the ground floor will open onto a plaza.

...the parking garage is designed to funnel people onto the plaza.

The garage also will include artwork.

[jfl25]

I guess it doesn't matter if you love or hate them they are a nessecity in urban living could yuo imagine city's without parking garages. Talk about sprawl.

[waccamatt]

I guess it doesn't matter if you love or hate them they are a nessecity in urban living could yuo imagine city's without parking garages. Talk about sprawl.

I'd much rather see dense urban housing with lots of mass transit and a ubiquitous parks system; if parking garages are a necessity they should at least be pleasing to the eye.

[breed]

I guess it doesn't matter if you love or hate them they are a nessecity in urban living could yuo imagine city's without parking garages. Talk about sprawl.

If anything, the easy accessibility of parking provided by a parking garage is a big factor in promoting sprawl. But I think I see your point. Having four four-level parking garages is better than having 16 parking lots.

[krazeeboi]

Here are some more renderings of the Pendleton Street garage in Columbia. The garage will feature retail space along Lincoln Street facing the Convention Center and glass stair and elevator towers on two corners. A major CMRTA bus stop will be located along Pendleton Street to encourage visitors to use mass transit and provide convenience to the Hotel and Convention Center patrons. The garage will connect to the first level of the Hotel for easy access by visitors:

A key component of the University's InnoVista initiative, the USC Bio-Med Block Parking Deck will support adjacent bio-medical research and office buildings while addressing other urgent parking needs in the Vista, such as events at the University's Koger Center for the Performing Arts and the Colonial Center arena. Designed in collaboration with the LPA Group of Columbia, SC the 1400 car garage is eight stories and features facades organized to reflect its pre-cast concrete structure. Colors and materials compliment the other research buildings occupying the block. The USC Strings Program will occupy space fronting Park Street and across the street from the USC Music School. It features several rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, and other support space for this popular University outreach program, and addresses the University's goal to provide animation and activity on the street.

[monsoon]

Again my complaint with that garage is the huge dead space that it creates on the street as shown in those renderings. They really ought to have some street level retail integrated into the design. Else, you will never see pedestrians there as nobody hangs out where there are long walls, even pretty brick and glass ones, against a sidewalk.

[goodbye]

Very true, monsoon. The best designs always include this aspect into the longterm vision.