Parking Garage Could Fix Downtown McKinney's Parking Woes

Finding a parking space in downtown McKinney has always been tough, but relief could be on the way.

Last week, council members approved a development agreement with two private property owners for a 300-space parking garage at Virginia and Chesnut streets.

The proposed site is a few blocks away from Historic Downtown McKinney Square.

Under the agreement, the property owner would build the parking garage and the city would lease the garage with an option to buy.

"One parking deck won't fix the problem. It's a multi-year solution and it's going to take a while, but it helps," said city manager Paul Grimes. "We have some preliminary design we have to get through to see if it's cost effective and an efficient design."

City officials said the parking garage would provide 300 parking spaces. The agreement does not bind the city to construct the garage. If the city decides not to move forward with construction, it would split the cost of the design capped at $75,000.

"If it comes back and it's going to be a fairly expensive parking deck on a per space basis, we probably won't proceed with it," said Grimes. "We do owe it to our community to find a solution."

A preliminary design is expected in early 2017.

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