photo by: Nick Krug

The former Borders building located at the southeast corner of Seventh and New Hampshire streets is pictured Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018.

City leaders indicated they are interested in a new city-owned, $5.4 million parking garage being part of the plans for a downtown grocery store and apartment building.

At its work session Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission reviewed and provided input on updated plans for the grocery store project, including changes to the developer’s parking plan and economic incentives request. Commissioners generally indicated they were interested in advancing with the idea of having a parking garage near the project.

“I’m interested in anytime we can have a better use of a piece of property,” Vice Mayor Lisa Larsen said.

Plans for the project call for constructing a mixed-use building on the site of the former Borders building, 700 New Hampshire St., with a Price Chopper grocery store on the ground level and about 70 apartments above.

Developers are proposing the building’s underground parking garage be only one level and that the city build a parking garage on the west side of New Hampshire Street, which is the site of an existing city-owned surface parking lot and would be across the street from the grocery store project. The city previously requested that the developer expand the capacity of the building’s underground parking garage to serve the grocery patrons and residents.

It is estimated that the off-site parking garage would provide approximately 300 to 320 parking spaces, according to a city staff memo. According to the developer, it would cost $5.4 million for the city to build the garage. The memo states that most of that money would come from the city’s coffers, but that the grocery store project will likely be able to contribute approximately $2 million in revenue toward the parking garage.

The grocery project’s $2 million contribution would come out of proceeds of a special financing district requested by the developer. The development group, led by Lawrence businessman Mike Treanor, has requested a tax increment financing district and a sales tax exemption on construction materials. The memo states the grocery store project will likely be able to contribute approximately $2 million in revenue toward the parking garage over the 20-year life of the financing district.

Projections indicate that a majority of the downtown store’s sales would come from a redistribution of existing grocery store customers. If the TIF is approved, City Manager Tom Markus said that the commissioners needed to recognize that on day one, that will be money that doesn’t come back into city and county coffers. Markus said the critical decision that the commission will have to make is whether it’s worth paying those costs and that of the parking garage to add a grocery store downtown and the 11 affordable housing units that will be included in the project.

“At the end of the day, to me what the City Commission has to decide is how much you are willing to invest in public funds and future capture of public funds for these public goods,” Markus said. “That’s what this decision is really going to come down to.”

Commissioner Matthew Herbert said that he thought the city contributing to an off-site garage, as opposed to one underneath a private business, makes more sense. Commissioner Leslie Soden said that she would rather wait to consider such parking decisions until after a downtown master plan is completed, which city staff said would be done this summer.

The city’s Public Incentives Review committee still needs to consider the incentives request, which will then go to the City Commission for review.