Work could begin as early as next week to build an additional parking lot along New York Street east of Fifth Street after Rushmore Plaza Civic Center awarded the bid on the project during a special meeting Friday afternoon.
J&J Asphalt submitted the lowest base bid and alternate, about $1.14 million, to add 470 spaces in the new lot east of an existing 500 space lot, and about 30 new spaces to the old lot.
All together, the lots on New York Street will hold 1,005 spaces.
Civic center general manager Brian Maliske said he expects work may start next week and the project is expected to be finished in time for the opening of the new multipurpose arena on Nov. 29.
"We've got a 2 p.m. hockey game Saturday, Nov. 29. So it will be completed and open for the new facility," Maliske said.
Board member Eddie Rypkema said the board is looking forward to having additional parking ready in time for the first hockey game in the new facility.
"It's going to be beneficial to the whole facility. It will accommodate a lot of needs, a lot of the concerns about parking," he said.
Maliske said the No. 1 complaint heard by civic center officials is parking. The additional lot will mean 4,100 parking stalls are available, including those at the civic center and those at Central High School and The Journey Museum.
Rypkema noted the civic center's parking is still free; something that's rare for facilities this size in other cities.
To make room for the new lot, an old softball field is being rebuilt to the south, but that meant taking some parking out of the new lot and adding them to the south end of the existing lot. Maliske said the additional parking area can be used by those who use the skateboard park and by the proposed powwow grounds facility.
More than 100 trees will be planted, and a large cottonwood will be left in place in the center of the new lot with a picnic island area built around it.
"It's been our intent from day one to be good neighbors with the Minniluzahan Center and with the Boys Club, and to provide new parking for the skateboard park, which has none," Maliske said.
The project is funded by part of a $5 million bond the city approved in May. The bond will also pay for building about 485 more stalls on tiers built into the hillside north of the civic center and for upgrading the theater's accessibility for people with disabilities, roof repairs and upgrades to the ventilation system in the 31-year-old civic center.
Maliske said some work has begun on the theater roof, but the rest of the projects included under the bond won't be bid until sometime next year. The cost per stall on the New York street lot was about $400 higher than anticipated, so the costs of the tiered parking proposal also will likely be higher.
"With this in place, I think we need to step back and get another cost estimate and have some discussion with the board to see which way we're going to go," he said.
Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com
