photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The HERE apartment and retail complex at 10th and Mississippi streets is pictured on Oct. 20, 2022

Some people worry about the day robots take over the world. Not me. I’m ready for a robot to do all my parallel parking, for instance. There was a brief time period in Lawrence where it looked like something along those lines might happen.

Perhaps you remember the futuristic parking plans that were part of the original design of the HERE apartment and retail building that was built across the street from KU’s Memorial Stadium. The plans called for a parking garage that would be equipped with an “automated robotic parking system” that moved, placed and removed cars from the garage without a driver.

The multistory HERE complex indeed ended up with a parking garage, but the automated parking system never came to be. Instead, HERE turned the garage into a valet-only parking option after the provider for the automated parking system filed for bankruptcy.

Now, the folks at HERE have filed new plans with City Hall to change parking at the site. The end result of those plans will be less parking even though the number of residents living in the 624-bedroom apartment complex will remain unchanged.

The plans filed at City Hall show the parking garage capacity at the complex would shrink from about 570 parking spaces currently to 220 parking spaces under the new proposal. It doesn’t appear the size of the garage itself would shrink, but rather the parking garage would be significantly reconfigured.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The entrance to the HERE parking garage is shown on Oct. 20, 2022.

My recollection from back in 2016 when the project was being constructed is that the parking garage wasn’t designed like a standard parking garage. Because it was going to use the robotic automated system, it was designed to really park cars closely together and to have tight turns that a driver wouldn’t be able to navigate.

When the robotic system became a bust, HERE officials had to come up with a new idea to meet the parking demands. The solution, in part, was to slightly reconfigure the garage and make it a valet-only option. The valet-only option ensured that only trained drivers would be allowed in the still-difficult to maneuver garage.

It was an interesting solution. (When I was in college, I had to tip the valet before he brought me my car. The tip: Wear a hazmat suit.) The valet idea ended up being an interesting idea that wasn’t very popular.

In its recent filing with City Hall, HERE officials said “HERE’s property manager has indicated consistent pushback from tenants about inconveniences associated with valet parking.” The students don’t like having to wait to receive their cars, plus there can be peak periods of demand that make waits worse because students often leave for class at the same times. Plus, HERE charges higher rates for the valet parking, presumably to pay the valets.

The end result is that currently only 220 of the 500-plus spaces in the garage are occupied on a consistent basis. HERE said that is despite the apartment complex having a 97% occupancy rate. HERE wants the new capacity of the garage to be 220 spaces, which would allow the garage to become a typical parking garage rather than a valet-only operation. Since the reconfigured garage would have 220 spaces and the garage currently only serves about 220 people, you could presume the new plan wouldn’t result in the parking situation around HERE worsening.

That could be a bad presumption, though. HERE residents already use at least two off-site parking lots. One is a parking lot at 1029 Mississippi St. that is catty-corner from the HERE complex. That lot provides 67 parking spaces for residents. It is important to note, though, that HERE does not own that parking lot. KU Endowment owns it.

The second lot that I know some HERE residents use is the university parking lot at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, which is across the street from HERE. Students who live at HERE can buy a university parking pass to park in that lot. Of course, HERE does not own that parking lot either.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The university-owned parking lot next to Kansas David Booth Memorial Stadium is shown on Oct. 20, 2022.

When you look at the plan proposed, it is aiming to provide 421 parking spaces that HERE actually controls for the 624-bedroom apartment complex, which also has about 13,000 square feet of retail space that requires some parking. Compare that to the current situation, which technically provides 685 parking spaces. In other words, the official parking plan for HERE would decline by more than 260 spaces.

But there is that nearby parking associated with the university that is not included in the 421 total above. The question, though, is what does the future hold for that parking? The university parking lot at Memorial Stadium, in particular, seems likely to change. As we’ve reported, KU has big plans for a both a stadium renovation and a new northern “gateway project” for the university. That gateway would be in the area of 10th and Mississippi streets, which is where the parking lot is located. If KU uses that parking lot to house a new convention center, hotel, medical facilities and other amenities, what happens to the HERE residents who park in that lot today?

If the parking garage shrinks, those displaced parkers won’t have the option of parking in the HERE garage. I’m sure residents surrounding the HERE project will worry that HERE residents simply will take on-street parking in the surrounding neighborhoods. Some of that happens now. The HERE residents who rely on the football stadium parking lot, for instance, must vacate the lot on home football game days. I know some vacate by taking on-street spaces in the neighborhood.

Before HERE can reduce the number of spaces in its parking garage, it must first win approval from city officials. It will be interesting to watch how that process goes. The apartment project did not easily win approval when it was proposed. Back then, the opposition partially was about parking but also centered on an 85%, 10-year property tax rebate that city commissioners approved on a 3-2 vote.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The HERE apartment and retail complex is pictured on Oct. 20, 2022.