Quote:
Originally Posted by johnatl
The new deck is freeing up a lot of area for new green space, and IMO they did a fantastic job at hiding it. It also replaced the old parking lot at the front of the Botanical Gardens.
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Ditto on the above comment. In the past, you had to get to the Botanical Gardens VERY early on busy days to get a spot in their tiny parking lot. After that, you had to park in the surrounding neighborhood (to the angry stares of the residents) and hike it, which if you have a bum knee like me, simply discourages you from going in the first place. Likewise, the surface parking lot at the Park was very small and filled up very early also causing people to park in the nearby neighborhoods where again, the local residents do their best to "discourage" you and even call the cops frequently on folks who even park 1" over a specified area. As a matter of fact, during this year's Dogwood Festival, it was made clear on the web site that police would be out to keep attendees from parking in the neighborhoods around the park at all.
Last weekend I went to the Botanical Gardens and used the new parking deck. Excellent. You don't even know it's there as most of it is buried into the hillside where over time, plants will overgrow much of it. Only the top deck is visible partially, and some of it is covered by green (grass, etc). Security people are visible at all times walking around, and they even have front spots reserved for "alternative fuel vehicles". Got my ticket, EASILY found a parking spot, and was in the door of their new welcome center in minutes. Others were following me, and still others were using the rear steps on the deck which go directly down into Piedmont Park - poof, you're there. Total parking fees for roughly 3.5 hours there was around $6.00 and I think it was well worth the price for the lack of hassles.
With over 750 parking slots, there's now plenty of parking for the Gardens and the Park, and the number of (paying) visitors to the Gardens was visibly clear - and will generate more revenue for the Gardens to expand. The old parking lot will be converted into a brand new garden space (opening in 2010), and as posted earlier, the Piedmont Park lot will become more green space.
No, I'm not a fan of just slapping up parking decks "wherever", but this is one of the rare cases where it was done well, done right, and works. Their pdf info sheet is
HERE (2 pages, near the end describing the green aspect of it).
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Piedmont Park
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