Details on Cary’s New Downtown Parking Deck
Cary, NC – Opening right next to the new Cary Regional Library, soon Cary will have a new parking deck, for both public parking and library-dedicated parking.
The Downtown Parking Deck will open in October 2019, around the same time as the Cary Regional Library, though the library will also have a dedication and grand opening ceremony on Sunday, November 3, 2019.
This deck is significantly larger than the existing parking deck at Town Hall Campus, with around 600 spaces as opposed to the existing deck’s 486. Of these spaces, 60 will be dedicated for library parking and 14 will be for disabled parking, located next to the elevators. Also, there will be between 12 and 14 spaces for electric vehicle parking and charging.
To monitor these dedicated spaces, as well as overall deck security, there will be more than 30 cameras inside of the parking deck.
All parking inside of the deck is free and there will be public restrooms on the ground level, located on the North side between the deck and the library. This exterior public restroom will provide access to park visitors so the library’s bathrooms can be dedicated to library patrons.
Wrapping the parking deck will be several units zoned as High Intensity Mixed Use. There is no Preliminary Development Plan for these sites to define their uses but it will likely be a mix of housing and commercial uses. Town staff requested an additional rezoning in between the parking deck and the Downtown Cary Park to add a block of High Intensity Mixed Use development, which was approved by the Cary Town Council on Thursday, June 27, 2019.
Story by Michael Papich. Photos by the Town of Cary and Michael Papich.
It will be interesting to watch 600 cars exiting after a concert or Xmas parade . And because the new library hugs the already busy Kildaire curb any attempt to drop someone off will be tricky. Maybe could have converted the Mayton Inn to a library haaaaaaa!
Have you ever seen what downtown Raleigh looks like with everyone trying to leave the garages there?
Cary’s garage will be a snooze in comparison.
What an absolutely awful looking building! Given all of the attention to detail the Town of Cary expended in the design of the downtown park area and in general to walkways, parks, roads, etc., I am surprised that they could not come up with a more pleasing design for the parking deck. It’s a real eyesore! Very disappointed!
My understanding is the structure itself was designed for functionality, rather than aesthetics, on the assumption it would eventually be hidden by surrounding multiuse facilities.
Many good comments. I would also add, 600 spaces is A LOT of parking. Add to that the parking currently at the Cary Elementary, street parking and moe coming when the old library comes down, and Ashworths. I’d say there is plenty of parking. Personally I can always find a space when I go downtown. Where we need more parking is on Chatham, Street and close to Bond and Midtown Square. The nearest lot for that area is the current town lot which is close “as the crow flies” but because of the railroad tracks is very inconvenient. Hoping there is something afoot where the Jordans purchased the motel.
The Cary Community Library will close its doors on October 20, 2019. Cary Regional Library will not open until November 3, 2019 at 2pm. There will not be library-dedicated parking, not even for employees.
Per the ground lease agreement with Cary and Wake County: The Town will lease to the County approximately 60 parking spaces in the parking deck marked exclusively for Library use during library hours. The Town will ensure that an additional 60 spaces are always available for public use during library hours.
http://carync.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=4420&MediaPosition=6558.727&ID=3730&CssClass=
Thank you for that information.
The new library is larger than the Eva H. Perry Regional Library, which has 150 parking spots. And those slots are often filled near to capacity. With the limited on street parking near the new Cary Library, why are less than half the number of parking slots Eva H. Perry has being allocated to the new library? Especially when “mixed use” facilities will soon be pretty much surrounding the parking deck, and using a significant number of the slots available.
In a downtown area, the premise is building density and walkability, right? Less parking because people can walk to the library. Eva H. Perry Regional Library is in a place where everyone has to drive there.
Add in self-driving cars (longer term…) and people who do use cars to get to the library won’t be parking there – they’ll be dropped off and the car will go elsewhere.
And as residential development near downtown continues, many will walk both ways.
Not everyone who will use the new library live within walking distance. In fact, many will be people who currently drive to Eva H. Perry Regional Library because it has more computer access than the current Cary Library. And once it opens, they will be driving to the new Cary Library because it is closer than the Eva H. Perry library, but still not within walking distance.
Self-driving cars. Dream on Mr. Jetson.
it’s closer than you think & in 20 years will revolutionize personal travel & maybe more importantly the transportation of goods. 5g & technology yet to come will make it possible.
I for one am not very optimistic about a future of self driving cars.
You may be right, 20 years or so seems like a reasonable guess to me, to the point where technology may be good enough.
But the problems: First, self driving cars still need roads. If self driving cars makes it easier for people to drive places, then people will drive more. We’re in for a world of hurt as far as congestion is concerned as perhaps the main reason people don’t drive more than they do (namely: having to actually do it) will be removed if you can just hop in a car, push a button, take a nap, and have the car wake you up when you get there. Only way to solve this is to make driving more expensive to create a new disincentive to overuse in the place of inconvenience.
Second, there are some in the industry who want to clamp down on things like bikes and pedestrians in order to make the world more “predictable” and accelerate the advent of an autonomous-vehicle future. I can hardly think of anything more dystopian than a world where the only way we are permitted to move out of doors is inside an autonomous car, funneling into the same, more overcrowded roads as ever. Bow down to your robot car overlords.
I think the technology itself is promising, interesting, and inevitable but I’m not confident at all that we will be able to leverage it in a way that solves more problems than it causes. Like everything in this country we are going to let the industry write their own rules, and like always, they are going to screw us over badly.
Yup, not optimistic.
It is inevitable, but certainly foresee tons of issues to be ironed out but I’m very optimistic. The huge reduction of vehicle deaths alone is a reason to be optimistic. Can’t come soon enough!!
Eventually there will no doubt be a huge development where the current library is. Hopefully within this development there can be additional parking for public use.