Bexar County Commissioners on Tuesday directed facility management staff to begin negotiating conditions for Joeris General Contractors to work as construction manager for the development of a new downtown parking garage. The seven-floor Archive Garage will have more than 720 parking spots and cost an estimated $16 million.
Commissioners approved plans to construct the lot at 126 East Nueva St., behind the Bexar County Archives building, in May. At that time, they selected Saldaña & Associates to be the project’s designers.
Joeris General Contractors beat out five other companies responding to the County’s request for proposals. The facilities management department ranked bidders based on experience, cost effectiveness, and general understanding of the project.
“We’ll work together, hand in hand with the architect, to further develop the budgets and work with them on the design to make sure the design and construction comes in within the budget,” said Gary Joeris, chief executive officer of the Joeris Group.
Parking spots will be developed at a 75-degree angle, creating a single path of travel that will allow visitors to leave the parking lot faster, said Dan Curry, facilities management department director. Curry said that designers are aiming to make the lot a dynamic component of downtown.
“This is not what the garage is going to look like, but we want to have something that looks impactful and something that enhances the architecture of downtown,” Curry said. “Our consultant teams are working on various different things, and we are looking at something that’s a little bit maybe outside of the box.”
County employees will be offered exclusive access to the lot during business hours; Curry said that consolidating the County parking in the garage will open up more public parking spaces in the nearby South Flores Garage. The Archive garage will be open to the public during special downtown events such as Fiesta and New Year’s Eve.
Joeris said that once the project’s timeline is solidified and construction begins, the project would be completed in 14 or 15 months. Commissioners were not presented with a final design to approve, but some offered their support for the concept.
“Public buildings should look good, and not just public,” Commissioner Paul Elizondo (Pct. 2) said. “This is a good concept.”
