joshua.dodd wrote:On another note, aren't many of these newer garages designed to be later transformed into liveable spaces?
If they are, I haven't heard a single thing about that. I've been saying for a while that this should be the standard, but, to my knowledge, I've only seen examples of this in other bigger cities (I seem to recall a garage in LA that was built with the intention of being converted sometime down the line).
This honestly seems like a no brainer to me. Forget digging underground, build a aesthetically pleasing garage above ground that can be later converted into residential. In the short term, it won't be ideal, but it'll save costs/time being above ground, give the building that higher parking ratio, and give us more room to grow in a decade or so. I'd happily put up with more above ground parking if it were designed this way.
tamtagon wrote:I think the fate of the parking garage moves at a very slow pace, especially when stacked up against the forum's favorite topics. I'm not too concerned downtown one day will have to come up with a plan to address derelict parking garages idling toward demolition through neglect. Isn't Plano the first city to start reviewing parking requirements, thanks to a review from Granite? It'll come time in Dallas City Council to allow for development without too much parking, especially residential and hotel.
I wonder if the parking garages of today will eventually become 'urban trailer parks'. After-all, RVs are basically studios on wheels, and, once we have self driving RVs, I can see them becoming popular again. I guess they would have to shake off the negative connotation and make them trendy/cool somehow.