Published: August 25, 2008 11:32 pm      

City: Action on decaying parking garage not likely anytime soon

In August 2003, structural problems forced the closure of the top three floors of Johnstown’s Washington Street parking garage.

Exactly five years later, most of the decaying downtown garage remains off-limits to commuters.

And cash-strapped city officials do not expect that to change anytime soon.

“I don’t see there being any money for refurbishing it,” City Manager Curt Davis said.

The city’s oldest garage was constructed in 1970 and underwent restorations in 1990 and 1999. But officials discovered sagging floors and cracked concrete in 2003, and the top decks were closed immediately.

A study released the following year showed widespread problems that, an engineering firm said, no small-scale repair job could address.

The report laid out two alternatives: The city could undertake a $2.6 million renovation or shell out $6 million to raze and replace the garage.

Officials deemed neither option palatable at the time, and those costs likely have risen in the last few years.

In 2005, City Council authorized administrators to solicit bids for demolishing the garage.

That apparently never happened.

Davis said he would not be opposed to a discussion about selling the property, which is situated in the heart of the central business district.

But anyone who buys the parcel immediately would become responsible for an aging parking garage.

“The question always becomes the cost of demolition, the cost of renovations,” Davis said.

City leaders have said the garage’s bottom levels are safe, and commuters continue to park there.

But hundreds of spots remain unavailable.

Frank Janakovic, whose Alternative Community Resource Program is based just across Locust Street from the garage, said many of his employees had to find other parking when the Washington Street structure was partially closed.

But Janakovic, who also is a Johnstown councilman, said he understands that the city has few financial options.

“I wish something could be done,” he said. “(The garage) is an asset to the people working downtown.”