The construction of the Hendersonville Downtown Parking Deck, located on the corner of 5th Avenue and Church Street, is under budget and on time but will impact traffic along 5th Avenue and Church Street starting in mid-July through August, according to a presentation by Assistant City Manager Brian Pahle at the July 7 City Council meeting.

Starting on July 18 and continuing for approximately six weeks, 20 to 30 pre-cast concrete pieces will be delivered to the site each day which will momentarily block Church Street while trucks delivering the pieces back into the site and a crane picks them up and sets them into place. During the final stages of the erection and the disassembly of the crane, 5th Avenue will be temporarily closed.

"Most of the work so far has been occurring at or below ground level,” Assistant City Manager Brian Pahle said in a press release. “In a few weeks, the parking deck will begin to rise out of the ground, and because the precast sections are built off-site, the process will happen quickly and efficiently."

Additional details on street closures are set to be provided using the city’s notification system and on social media. To sign up for street closure notifications, visit: www.hvlnc.gov/alerthvl

More:Hendersonville parking deck to be 4 stories; Metering Main Street to begin in 2022

So far, the site has been backfilled, and utility work has been completed. Now, vertical construction can begin, starting with the delivery and assembly of a crane the week of July 11. Pahle said in the press release that even though the exterior of the garage will appear complete later in the summer, there are many more months of interior work before it will be functional and open to the public. 

The parking deck is set to be completed in January 2023, at which point, additional pieces of the comprehensive parking management plan will go into effect. Parking on Main Street and on the avenues between Church and King streets will no longer be free, and some changes will also take place to permit parking. 

More: City Council takes a look at possible changes to downtown parking, including fees

The first hour in the parking deck will be free followed by a $1.50 hourly rate up to a $10 daily maximum. Surface parking lots follow the same structure but with a $5 daily maximum. Parking on Main Street and the avenues will be free for the first 30 minutes followed by a charge of $2.00 per hour with a 3-hour maximum.

Parking kiosks, which will be installed throughout downtown in late 2022, go live after the first of the year and function similarly to the existing kiosks currently operating in the city-owned surface lots. Visitors can skip the meter and pay by phone using the ParkMobile app. 

The proposed rates for monthly parking permits are $60 for 24/7 surface lots, $80 for covered levels of the parking garage and $25 for the top level of the parking garage. A meeting will be held later in the year for current parking permit holders or those interested in obtaining a parking permit. 

“For many years we have heard from the community through comments, surveys, and studies about the lack of available parking in Downtown Hendersonville,” Pahle said in the press release. “Main Street parking is currently free and convenient, but rarely available. To support our active business district, we need parking to be convenient and available. Metering the premier parking locations and constructing the parking garage is a sustainable solution for our growing community.”

Additional information and project updates are available atwww.hendersonvillenc.gov/projects/parking-garage