Brick work has started on the exterior of the HERE Kansas apartment and retail project, pictured Tuesday, March 29, 2016, at 1111 Indiana St.

Automated parking for the HERE @ Kansas apartment and retail development near Kansas University is not a possibility, a developer behind the project said Wednesday.

Questions were brought up at Tuesday night’s Lawrence City Commission meeting about whether developers could hire another company to finish the existing parking garage, which was built to become an automated deck. The company initially hired to build the automatic garage, Boomerang Systems Inc., filed for bankruptcy in October.

James Letchinger, president of JDL Development — the developer behind HERE — said Wednesday he reached out to 10 other companies that build automated garages in October and November to see whether any of them could take over the project. Four of those companies visited the site at 1101 and 1115 Indiana St.

None of the companies Letchinger spoke with had ever built an automatic garage that could hold more than 30 cars, he said. The proposed robotic garage was originally planned to have nearly 600 spaces.

“The bottom line: If we thought there was somebody who could do it and be reliable and deliver the cars it said, great. We’d do it,” Letchinger said. “But it doesn’t exist.”

Lawrence resident Janet Gerstner, and others, urged city commissioners Tuesday to look for other automated parking companies and “not just take their word for it that something else wouldn’t work,” Gerstner said.

Gerstner said — and Letchinger agreed Wednesday — that having another company build the garage as automatic would be the best solution.

“Getting another company to do it would be the easiest solution,” Letchinger said. “Of course we’ve explored it. It’s disappointing, because I do believe in it for the future.”

Letchinger said the loss of the automated system cost developers approximately $2 million.

JDL Development had been working with Boomerang Systems for another automated parking garage in Champaign, Ill. JDL selected Boomerang to service the Champaign garage after seeing a 13-story deck it operated in Miami.

The Miami Herald reported in January that Boomerang pulled out of its contract with the condominiums in Miami, where the deck is located. The deck had been called “disastrous.”

According to an article in the Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette, the garage near the University of Illinois was intended to hold 270 spaces, and it was nearly complete when Boomerang filed for bankruptcy.

Letchinger said that garage, which is already outfitted with mechanics, is “inoperable.”

What meets code

Developers have come to the City Commission twice looking for approval to operate the garage with human valets, with the garage holding fewer parking spaces than the robotic garage. Commissioners proposed a way forward March 22 that would’ve allowed the human valet service, with certain conditions, but they wanted more information before taking a vote.

Letchinger has said he is working on a solution to secure the total amount of parking spaces, off-site, required to fill the development — both the apartments and 13,500 square feet of retail space. Details of that solution could not yet be shared, Letchinger said.

City Manager Tom Markus, who has talked with developers about the potential solution, said Tuesday he has “a certain degree of confidence in listening to them” that the spaces would be added.

After questioning at their previous meeting about the feasibility of the valet garage, commissioners asked Tuesday to receive a count of parking spaces that could fit in the deck if the width of the spaces met city code. As it’s been proposed, the garage, with human valets, would have 510 spaces — some of which are up to a foot narrower than what’s allowed under city code.

Mayor Mike Amyx said Tuesday it was his “last chance” to ask for how much space for parking exists in the garage under the city’s code.

Amyx suggested the commission should consider using the number of spaces that are wide enough to meet city code when determining how many bedrooms it allows developers to fill. The City Commission proposed March 22 allowing developers to fill 486 of the 624 bedrooms, which had been pared down from the 592 bedrooms developers asked to lease.

“What I’m saying is, there’s an amount of parking that exists under our code,” Amyx said. “And maybe that’s what we ought to give, occupancy-wise, because that meets our code.”

Markus said Tuesday the number of spaces that could fit in the garage under city code is likely “substantially” fewer than the 510 developers have said they can fit with human valets.

Letchinger plans to bring the requested information to the City Commission next week, though he doesn’t “understand its relevance,” he said.

Lingering concerns

Letchinger has maintained that the human valet service is “tried and true” and an expensive, but workable, solution. He said residents of HERE @ Kansas would pay extra to use the parking spaces, approximately $50 to $60 per month.

“That is very common,” Letchinger said of the extra payment. “They’re secured, there’s personnel, lighting; you have to charge for it. It’s minimal.”

Residents of the Oread neighborhood expressed their doubts Tuesday about the feasibility of valet parking and their worry that parking would spill into the already-congested residential streets.

Referencing the neighborhood revitalization act developers signed with the city, Candice Davis — an Oread neighborhood resident and chair of the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods — said, “It’s really disappointing we have this revitalization process because, when you think about what could happen to the neighborhood, I would hardly call it revitalization.”

Jane Eldredge, with Barber Emerson law offices, and State Sen. Marci Francisco, who lives in the area, advocated for commissioners finding out how many spaces would fit in the garage under city code. Eldredge asked that the plan be sent back to the city planning commission.

“When followed, the development code provides certainty and predictability for both the developers who come to our community and with those of us who will live with the new developments long after the developers are gone,” Eldredge wrote in a letter to city commissioners. “Consistency in application of the development code is the cornerstone of good government.”

City planners have not recommended reducing the number of spaces required under city code for the development, but they have included the narrower spaces in their count of what developers are providing. Lawrence’s code does not currently include separate standards for valet garages.

It’s uncertain whether the issue will be talked about next week. The City Commission agenda will be released Thursday.