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Garage Will Close to Parking Later in April; Visit AccessAnnapolis.com for Information on Parking and Transit Options
ANNAPOLIS, MD – On Monday, April 4, crews will begin preliminary work to rebuild Annapolis’ downtown Noah Hillman Garage. During the preliminary phase, the garage will remain open. The work will involve staging safety equipment, installing construction fencing, surveying, and initial removal work.
The timing will allow the garage to remain open through the conclusion of the 2022 Maryland General Assembly session. In a few weeks, the garage will close to parking for 14 to 16 months for a total rebuild.
Residents and visitors to Annapolis are reminded that, during construction, downtown Annapolis will remain open.
ABOUT THE DEMO
Project managers have taken the sensitive location in the Annapolis Historic District into consideration in the demolition of the garage. First, all work will generally occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. Next, the dismantling of the garage will occur with a focus on minimizing dust, noise and vibrations. Vibration monitors will be in place to protect surrounding buildings and dust mitigation measures will be implemented on the worksite.
Gorman Street will be closed to general traffic except for a single lane maintained for parking and delivery access. Access to that single lane will be coordinated with the contractor.
In order to help residents and visitors navigate downtown during the 14-month rebuild, a website www.AccessAnnapolis.com was created to serve as a hub for parking and transit information to help residents, businesses, employees, customers, and visitors plan their visit to downtown Annapolis.
“We are excited to get started on this milestone project and measures we have taken to ensure Annapolis is open and vibrant as ever during the rebuild,” said Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley. “When the garage is complete, it will be an amazing asset with more parking spaces, stormwater controls and environmental features including a solar roof, EV chargers, easier payments, better lighting, and more safety features. This will be a structure that takes Annapolis into the future.”
In listening to downtown residents and businesses, the City has prioritized planning to protect residential parking in downtown and to move people around the City through the creation of a temporary mobility plan. Residents and visitors to downtown will have a number of parking and transit options available during the rebuild.
Residential Parking: There will be no changes for Ward One permit holders. The Annapolis Mobility and Resilience Partners (AMRP) team has worked to protect residential parking by transitioning paid, on-street parking for non-residents to paid parking through the ParkMobile app and ensuring availability through enhanced parking enforcement in downtown.
Where Can I Park? Without Hillman, there remain more than 3,400 lot and garage spaces available in downtown. The first part of the mobility plan is to help individuals find alternative parking that meets their needs including close-in parking garages such as Gotts Court garage. The City will strongly incentivize parking at Park Place (750 spaces) through reduced parking rates for the duration of the rebuild. Those who hold monthly parking passes at Hillman will be transferred to Gotts Court or Knighton garages (contact Annapolisparking.com to transfer your monthly pass).
Getting Around. A FREE shuttle route, enhanced with upgraded buses, will traverse the usual downtown (Circulator) route (Park Place to Main Street and back) with increased frequency. For those who park at Gotts (540 spaces) and Whitmore (278 spaces) garages, an electric trolley will make a close-in 10 minute loop between Calvert Street, State Circle, Main Street and West Street. Later this spring, there will also be an option from the City’s microstransit vendor, Via, offering on-demand services to and from fixed locations through their proprietary smartphone app.
In addition, there are 1,000 additional public parking spaces at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. Annapolis Transit operates the State Shuttle between the stadium and the Maryland State House buildings. The fare for a one-way trip on the State Shuttle is $2. Downtown parking options will continue to include Dock Street, on-street metered locations, and close-in surface lots including Basil, Donner, South Street and Larkin.
The City urges local residents and businesses to sign up for the e-newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest construction news. Sign up at www.AccessAnnapolis.com.
“The process for reaching a consensus on the design and rebuild of Hillman has been a multi-year effort with hundreds of stakeholders, including residents, businesses and elected officials, having input through over the many public meetings,” said City Manager David Jarrell. “Getting to the start of construction is a great achievement and I want to thank our involved stakeholders, the City staff and our City Council. We also appreciate the great work that has been done by our development team, Annapolis Mobility and Resilience Partners (AMRP). We appreciate everyone’s patience as we have worked through the inevitable issues associated with this large, important project. The new garage will be a tremendous enhancement for downtown Annapolis.”
Once completed, the new Hillman garage, built on the existing footprint, will include more total parking spaces (increasing from 425 current spaces to 590 spaces in the new garage); working elevators; easier entry, exit and payments; smart technologies like wayfinding and parking space detectors; stormwater controls; solar arrays on the roof (providing shade for cars while generating energy); Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations; bicycle parking; improved lighting, safety and security features; multi-purpose areas on the ground floor; and more.
