Jefferson City Council to consider $35 million in bonds for new downtown parking garage
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Jefferson City Council introduced a bill and approved a resolution related to a new downtown parking garage at its meeting Monday.
The council introduced a bill authorizing the sale of $35 million in bonds to finance a new parking garage at the corner of Madison Street and East Capitol Avenue.
The garage will replace the former Madison Street garage, which closed in 2024 and was demolished in 2025 because of deterioration. The new garage is estimated to be completed in early 2028, according to city documents.
The city is also planning a new conference center and hotel on the same lot as the garage.
The City Council hired Garfield Public/Private LLC to oversee the conference center project. According to developer documents, the garage would have 567 parking spaces. The hotel would have 215 rooms, and the conference center would have about 30,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
The total cost of the conference center, hotel and garage project is estimated at $145 million. Most of the funding will come from bonds repaid through revenue from the new hotel, the city’s 7% lodging tax and public parking, according to documents from the developer.
The council also unanimously approved a resolution reserving 100 of the 567 garage spaces for the state government.
In September, the council accepted $15 million from the state for a new downtown Jefferson City garage through a consent agenda item. The money was conditional on reserving those parking spaces for the state.
The parking spaces would be reserved for the state Office of Administration and could not be sublet to other parties. The $15 million must be spent by June 10, 2027, according to the consent agenda item.
The city could use the 100 spaces “during weekdays outside of normal State business hours and on weekends,” according to the proposed parking agreement with the state.
Jefferson City Ward 3 Councilwoman Julie Allen said the former garage, which held almost 600 spaces, had a similar amount of reserved spaces for state government employees. A parking study from 2024 also indicates the state government held around 100 permits in the old Madison Street garage.
“Those 100 parking spaces is really just an extension of what previously had been done. And obviously with them providing the appropriation, it’s appropriate to give them some spots,” Allen said.
Allen said the $15 million from the state and annual public parking revenue through fines and fees will be sufficient to pay for the new garage.
“And in addition, there will be an annual audit of the funds to make sure that they’re being appropriately collected and used…there’s going to be plenty of checks and balances,” Allen said.
Luke Holtschneider, CEO and president of the Jefferson City Regional Economic Partnership, said in an email that the city is issuing the parking revenue bonds first instead of waiting to finalize all of the bonds at the same time.
“The former garage has already been demolished, so a big priority is maintaining momentum and getting replacement parking back in place downtown as soon as possible,” Holtschneider said.
The Jefferson City Council meets at 6 p.m. at 320 E. McCarty St.
Click here to follow the original article.