CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Construction will begin soon on two parking garages, adding over 1,300 new spaces to downtown Clarksville. While those projects are in the works, parking may be an issue downtown for a few months after the 6,000-person capacity F&M Bank Arena opens.
Local officials are working to bring parking relief as they continue to promote their commercial redevelopment districts. The latest move, thanks to Austin Peay State University, will free up an additional 1,200 surface parking spaces in walking distance of the arena, for a total of 2,700 spaces.
https://soundcloud.com/clarksville-conversation/episode-180-where-is-everyone-going-to-park-for-the-fm-arena?si=9792ddce3006418bac174c4c5c50551a&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
What are redevelopment districts?
“Redevelopment districts are strategic areas within the city or county that are noticeably not at their highest invested use, and usually there is some reason why they’re not naturally developing,” Buck Dellinger, president and CEO of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council, said this week in a Clarksville’s Conversation podcast.
He noted the reason these areas may not be developing could be a structural issue or a lack of population density. In downtown Clarksville’s case, nearly half the area is a flood zone.
In order to attract companies to these locations, a TIF (tax-increment financing) district can be established to provide incentives for businesses to develop the land. Incentives could include infrastructure repair or even parking expansion.
Dellinger explained that the goal of the economic redevelopment districts is to bring in more businesses that benefit the tax base. He said parking is among those plans locally, but downtown is maxed out on surface parking.
“Structured parking is kind of the key to that. Otherwise, we just have a lot of parking lots and not a lot of development,” he said.
Parking plans
“We have three elements to support downtown parking for the F&M Bank Arena. Two structured garages and the Austin Peay surface parking lot that are all around College Street, Main Street, and Franklin Street,” Dellinger said.
The parking garage across from F&M Bank Arena is projected to be completed in the winter of 2023-24, roughly six months after the arena opens. The project is being overseen by the EDC and is expected to bring an additional 720 parking spaces.
Another parking garage is being built behind the Roxy Regional Theatre, and that will add approximately 580 spaces. This project is under the umbrella of the City of Clarksville and will connect with the existing Cumberland parking garage next door, according to Dellinger. Once construction is complete, around 800 spaces will be available.
In addition to the parking garages, APSU will allow visitors to use their surface parking spaces during major arena events. “What we’re looking at is 1,200 surface parking spaces,” Dellinger said.
From one perspective, that should meet the immediate needs. “We did have some consultants look at how many parking spaces you need for a 5,500-seat arena, and it was about 1,250.”
But Dellinger said that figure doesn’t include parking for the additional 300 people who will be working at the arena during an event. In addition, there are all the other downtown retail and restaurant spots that will require parking.
Total of 2,700 spaces coming
When all is said and done, around 2,700 spaces will be available for arena and other downtown visitors between the parking garages and the spaces at APSU:
- Riverview Square parking garage (to be built): 720 spaces
- Roxy/First Street parking garage (to be built): 580 spaces
- Cumberland parking garage: 220 spaces
- APSU surface parking lots: 1,200 spaces
But with the F&M Bank Arena hosting its first event in July of 2023, six months before the parking garages open, there will be some initial parking pains.
“If there is a sold out event, it would be at max capacity,” Dellinger said at an EDC meeting earlier this month.
A worst-case scenario could include one in which there is a sold-out event at both the arena and the Roxy Regional Theatre, resulting in parking congestion. But Dellinger explained that preparing for those kind of situations, such as by building 5,000 parking spaces for example, isn’t worth the cost in the end.
“If that happens, then we’ll figure it out. Otherwise, you kind of overbuild,” he said in the podcast. “The cost of a structured parking space, by the way, is about $15,000 to $20,000 a space. So (if) you overbuild 100 spaces for that once-every-five-year event, that’s a lot of money.”