Construction on a new parking deck should start in May to accommodate workers and visitors to Cobb County offices, plus the new courthouse near the Marietta Square.
Cobb plans to build a $7.7 million deck at 191 Lawrence St., which is about a block from the new courthouse on Haynes Street.
"They've come up with a very nice looking deck," said Marietta City Manager Bill Bruton. "It doesn't look like a deck. It looks like an office building."
The Cobb County Commission approved a building contract for the deck at its meeting this week.
Right now there is a deficit of about 352 parking spaces near the Marietta Square based on the number of employees who work in county offices in the vicinity or who visit during the day, according to Cobb's calculations.
Concerns that county workers and visitors park in public street spaces and thus impact merchants on the square are "legitimate," said Virgil Moon, Cobb's director of support services.
The county expects an additional 250 workers and visitors at the new courthouse set to open in March 2011. The majority of the visitors would be to the juvenile court, Moon said.
The new parking deck will have 534 spaces.
"We think this will take care of us not only now, but long-term," Moon said.
The site for the parking deck is occupied now by an older building that houses Cobb's Community Development Department. That department will move to a renovated shopping plaza south of Marietta in March or April and the present building will be demolished in May.
Construction on a new Cobb County parking deck should start in May to accomodate workers and visitors to the county’s offices near the Marietta Square.
Cobb plans to build a $7.7 million deck at 191 Lawrence Street, which is a block or so away from the new courthouse. The new parking deck will have a manned collection booth and small openings in its design to make it look like an office building and not a parking deck.
The Cobb County Commission approved the award of the building contract at its meeting this week.
