McKinney, Texas (March 8, 2017) – McKinney City Council voted at their regular meeting Tuesday to begin the process of entering into a lease agreement with a private developer for the construction of a parking garage on the northeast corner of Virginia and Chestnut streets in Historic Downtown McKinney.  Upon finalizing the lease, construction of the lot would begin this spring and is slated to be finished by the end of the year. 

Property owner and developer Virginia@5 LLC and SP2 301 E. Virginia LLC Five proposed five options for consideration that were presented at the meeting. City Council selected the option for a five-story parking structure with 310 spaces and a construction cost of just more than $7.5 million. The city will lease to own the garage. 

“This is a great step forward in the process to alleviate the parking issues we have in downtown and we are excited to see work begin on this project,” Mayor Brian Loughmiller said. “It’s a great problem to have so many people want to visit our historic downtown square and we are doing our best to make visiting a convenient and enjoyable experience for everyone.” 

In addition to the parking garage, the city has entered into long-term lease agreements for two additional surface lots. The first is with First United Methodist Church for its property at the southwest corner of Kentucky and Lamar streets. The city will add 47 new spaces at the church lot, which already has 44 spaces. These spots are available for public use anytime except Sunday during morning services. The other lot is at the old Wysong hospital at the northeast corner of Tennessee and Hunt streets. The city will add 90 new spaces bringing the total capacity to about 200 spaces. 

When construction of the nine-acre mixed-use development at the southwest corner of Davis Street and McDonald Street is completed in 2018, approximately 320 parking spots will be available for public use. The city is also looking into additional parking options on land it already owns, including the site of the old water tower and fire station located at Davis and Chestnut streets. Additionally, the city is exploring options to improve lighting, security and wayfinding in downtown. 

“While the new parking garage will make great strides improving parking options in downtown, we know more work needs to be done. City staff is working diligently to explore every option available to add additional parking to our wonderful downtown area,” said City Manager Paul Grimes. "The City Council has now put into the pipeline four parking garages in the town square area: the nine-acre development, this one at 301 E. Virginia, the water tower site, and one at the future City Hall site."

For more information on downtown parking, including a parking guide and a downtown parking map, visit www.mckinneytexas.org/parking.