More Local news

• Man shot by Collier deputies held on $300,000 bond
• FWC revokes marker permit on Naples Bay
• Alcohol allowed on city of Naples property, but rules apply

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Share and Enjoy [?]

An architect is moving forward with designing a new downtown Naples parking garage at the same time a local development company is proposing a land swap that could drastically alter the garage’s "footprint."

Also, at least one Naples City Council member still has concerns about the $741,305 that the council recently agreed to pay Andrea Clark Brown & David Poorman Architects, a local architectural firm, to design the structure at Eighth Street South and Sixth Avenue South.

On June 6, the Naples City Council approved hiring Brown’s firm to design the downtown parking garage over the objection of some Fifth Avenue South business owners who pay the tax money that would support this project. Council members Gary Price and Bill Willkomm disagreed with the council majority.

Both Price and Willkomm supported the city first contacting design-build companies that specialize in building parking garages and getting price estimates for the new structure. But a majority of the council members said they had faith in Brown’s firm handing the design job, saying its quality work throughout the city speaks for itself.

The firm also designed the city’s other downtown parking garage.

Barron Collier Enterprises is proposing a land swap of its property on Ninth Street South for the city’s property on Eighth Street South, said Chet Hunt, the assistant city manager who used to head up the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Hunt said he hasn’t yet learned the specific details of Barron Collier’s proposal, but generally speaking, the company would like to trade its Ninth Street land for the city’s Eighth Street property, which the company then would develop. The Barron Collier official who has been contacting the city couldn’t be reached for comment for this article.

"It’s my understanding they’d be willing to swap land for the Eighth Street site, which would result in city having a larger footprint for the parking structure," Hunt said.

Brown’s firm is moving forward with designing the garage as this uncertainty hangs over it, and at least one council member continues to question the price the firm is paying to design the structure.

Before she was hired, Brown told the council her firm could incorporate the Barron Collier design proposal into the project if that is the council’s wishes.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Price aired his concerns again about the price Brown’s firm is charging the city to design the garage and its estimate for building it.

"I am still convinced that we are paying twice as much money for the parking garage as we should," he said.

Price was able to persuade the council to direct staff to return after the council’s summer break with construction prices of comparable downtown parking garages, so that when it’s time for the city to hire a company to build the garage, it has a good idea of a fair price.

Price said he is convinced that $3 million or $4 million can be trimmed off the estimated price.

"There’s never been a more important time for us to be careful with our money. I know from my research that it (the garage) can be built for less," he said.

Councilman Johnny Nocera said the council is going to carefully look at the construction bid that comes in.

"Staff should be very, very aware of that we’ll be watching this like a hawk," he said.

Councilman Bill MacIlvaine said he has a great deal of confidence in Brown, saying she will design a quality garage for Naples.

"I think that it will be good for the city," he said. "I’m not concerned about how cheap you can get it, because I know that it is very easy to get a verbal quotation from somebody on any subject and have them undercut the other guy," he said.

A representative of a company based in Apopka that has built parking garages throughout the state said the company could build the Naples garage for about $15,000 per parking space, which is about half of what Brown’s firm has estimated.

He called the design price Naples is paying "absurd."

"We’re certainly capable of doing something equal to this (to design the garage) for a whole lot less than $750,000," said Glenn Valenta, vice president of marketing for Finfrock Design-Manufacture-Construct Inc., the largest builder of free-standing parking structures in Florida.

Finfrock, which is known for specializing in design-build parking garages that blend in with the surroundings, designed a Winter Park parking garage that Price mentioned as a quality city garage.

Valenta said that firm can offer a good price by doing the design work in-house, and using pre-cast concrete.

"A lot of people have said pre-cast (concrete) garages all look the same," he said, adding that this is not so.

He said the firm’s wide array of aesthetically pleasing garages it has built all over Florida that are featured on the company’s Web site prove the point.

Valenta said that firm has also built many parking garages with mixed uses embedded in them, a concept that downtown redevelopment and Naples city officials are advocating for the garage here.

Finfrock has built parking garages in Central Florida for Rollins College, Post Parkside, Capital Plaza, Orlando Regional Medical Center, Maitland Promenade II, Pointe Orlando, and Florida Hospital.

Valenta said if Naples wanted that firm to handle the downtown garage, it would toss out Brown’s plans and start from scratch.

A few years ago, Finfrock submitted a downtown parking garage design in Naples. Finfrock was planning to shell out its own money to build the garage in return for leasing out the commercial space and selling the residential units.

"We provided a proposal (to Naples) that encompassed a parking garage, shops, and restaurants on the ground floor, and residential units," Valenta said.

City Manager Bob Lee said Finfrock’s design wouldn’t have created as many parking spaces as the city was seeking.