State College’s parking garages need repairs. Here’s why a consultant says it’ll cost $7.3M
The State College Borough has been advised to spend about $4 million over the next three years — and $7.3 million over a 10-year plan — to keep its four parking garages in working order, based on a report reviewed Monday by the borough council.
According to the condition appraisal report, which is performed by an outside consultant about every seven years, repairs must be made to correct structural issues, improve waterproofing, stabilize cracking facades, and other incidentals, to ensure the garages and their 1,563 combined parking spaces will last.
The projected cost this year alone is $1.48 million, with nearly half of that slated for the Beaver Avenue garage.
“These are expenses that are going to be necessary to maintain these vital parking assets,” added Ed Holmes, the borough’s interim parking manager.
Because of the impact of COVID-19 on the borough’s parking fund — both on-street parking and the garages remained free for long stretches of 2020 — the borough will have to borrow money for the short-term three-year plan and refinance old debt. Council will have to approve everything, and it’s scheduled to vote on authorizing borrowing during the next regular meeting on March 15.
Here’s a closer look at each parking garage, the recommended repairs/issues and the associated costs, per Walker Consultants from Monday’s borough council meeting:
Beaver Avenue Garage
Built: 2005 (Precast Normal Weight Concrete)
Parking spaces: 529 (195,000 square feet)
Projected costs over 3 years: $1.21 million
Projected costs over 10 years: $3.28 million
Yes, it is the “new” — or at least the “newest” — garage. But, at 16 years old, it’s time to invest more in repairs so that it can last another 40-plus years, officials said. That’s why this garage’s projected costs over the next decade are better than $1 million more than the next-costliest garage.
One of the main concerns here, at least in the short term, lies with the loose, cracked and bulging thin-brick facade. Many of the loose areas were removed in January, but Walker Consultants said the extent of the damage was more severe than first thought — and it recommended removing the brick facade entirely and replacing it with a textured coating to prevent the brick from potentially falling on pedestrians.
Fixing that brick facade is expected to cost about two-thirds of the $741,000 in estimated Beaver Avenue garage repairs for 2021. That ($485,000) is more than twice the facade repair costs for the other three garages — combined — over the next 10 years.
“That brick is starting to present some safety issues,” borough manager Tom Fountaine acknowledged. “So we’re going to have to address that.”
Overall, however, the garage is still considered in “good” condition. Other issues include chips and cracks in the stairs, occasional deterioration at the base of some handrails, loose backer rods, sealant issues, window gaskets in fair to poor condition, broken or aging light fixtures, door rust, damaged/missing signage, etc.
Fraser Street Garage
Built: 1985 (CIP P/T Normal Weight Concrete)
Parking spaces: 335 (154,000 square feet)
Projected costs over 3 years: $564,000
Projected costs over 10 years: $929,000
Despite being the borough’s second-oldest parking garage and the third-largest, its projected costs remain the cheapest.
“Very minimal work needs to be done with the Fraser Street garage over the next few years,” said borough facilities manager Thomas Brown.
Walker Consultants labeled the garage as being in “fair” condition, with the garage boasting at least 10 years left in its lifespan. For it to last a little longer, however, the garage will need to upgrade and maintain its waterproofing system due to corrosion and deterioration.
The 2021 cost for upkeep here will be about $124,000. The costliest repair will be injecting epoxy into concrete slabs, with a projected price of $34,500. Other issues to be addressed include beam deterioration/cracking, separation near vertical joints, unpainted curbs, elevation changes (slopes) that should be painted, leaching, failing perimeter window sealant, corroding railing bases, etc.
McAllister Street Garage
Built: 1991 (Precast Normal Weight Concrete)
Parking spaces: 218 (66,000 square feet)
Projected costs over 3 years: $645,000
Projected costs over 10 years: $1.1 million
The borough’s smallest downtown parking garage doesn’t have any unique issues. In fact, the issues here are recurring ones.
The McAllister Street garage has a number of chips and cracks in the concrete on the roof level, in addition to broken shear connections. “We’ve been addressing these for years in this parking facility,” Brown said.
This garage isn’t expected to be a priority this year, with just $20,000 in projected costs — and $625,000 in projected costs for next year.
According to Walker Consultants, the structure is in fair condition with some areas in poor condition, such as the cast-in-place concrete retaining wall along the exterior ramp. Other issues include loose overhead concrete, broken concrete at curbs, wall cracking due to moisture-related issues, out-of-code railings, leaching, stains from leaking, column deterioration, worn paint, failing window gasket(s), clogged drains, etc.
Pugh Street Garage
Built: 1972 (CIP P/T Light Weight Concrete)
Parking spaces: 491 (158,000 square feet)
Projected costs over 3 years: $1.43 million
Projected costs over 10 years: $1.98 million
Pugh Street is unique in several respects. For one, it’s the borough’s oldest downtown garage by 13 years — and it’s the only garage to use light-weight concrete. Maybe then it shouldn’t be too surprising that this garage is nearing the end of its shelf life, even with repairs.
According to the borough, the Pugh Street garage can likely be utilized for another 7-10 years. After that? Well, that’s something the borough council will have to discuss. (“Strategic abandonment” or a new structure are both options.) Regardless, for this garage to remain functional for those last few years, some structural components need to be repaired. Further tests are also being done to rule out a change in the concrete quality, which could increase projected costs.
The cost in 2021 alone will be $591,000 with the biggest expense — slab edge repair due to cracks — costing more than half of that. Other issues include sealant failures, curb and column deterioration, rusted handrail bases, out-of-code ramp guardrails, leaching cracks, paint peeling, elevator maintenance, dirty and aging signage, etc.
The full report on the condition of the four garages, and their associated costs, can be found in Monday’s borough council agenda at statecollegepa.us.
