Mixed-Use Parking Structure Master Planning

Athens, GA

Lord, Aeck & Sargent provided master planning services for a 500 space parking deck located on an infill lot encompassing an entire city block in Downtown Athens, Georgia. This structure, which, if built would have an anticipated budget $13.2 million, included mixed-uses such as street-front retail and a unique public assembly space to be located on the rooftop of the deck.

Lord, Aeck & Sargent designers worked closely with stakeholders and the sponsoring owner, the Athens Downtown Development Authority, (including the City’s Planning, Traffic Engineering, Environmental and Public Maintenance Departments).
 
The Master Plan was desired by the client to address several uniquely complex issues such as the need to balance ingress and egress issues during normal use and specifically for downtown events, to provide bus parking as well as service for the many different users, and providing proper connections to the local transit system offerings.  The effort also included studying the potential building massing of the deck structure for the purpose of developing creative strategies to balance the mixture of proposed uses within the context of the surrounding urban fabric.

In addition to the urban design issues addressed in the planning of this project, LAS also programmed and created a preliminary design concept for the deck, which, if built, would targeting LEED Certification and numerous other Sustainable strategies such as Green Roof (as part of the public assembly space), Rainwater Harvesting and also Bike and Alternative Fuel Vehicle Parking.