Despite the drop in attendance to football games this year, the University of Virginia is considering building a new 400- to 700-space parking garage at Scott Stadium. On November 16, UVA issued a “request for letters of interest and statements of qualifications” (RFQ) to select firms to design and build the garage.
The location of the new garage hasn’t been finalized—studies are underway—but it will generally be “southwest” of the existing three-level parking garage at the stadium, which has 764 spaces and was completed in 2000. That could mean that the venerable “West Lot,” which is the tailgate headquarters for many longstanding season ticket holders, could be on the development table, though no site yet has been selected.
The project is not listed on any of the University’s construction reports and hasn’t gone through the Board of Visitor’s Building and Grounds committee. So how serious is UVA about building a new parking garage for Scott Stadium?
It’s not always easy to get answers to questions like this from UVA. I spoke with George Cullen in the Facilities Planning & Construction office, as his name was listed on the RFQ. He was very polite, but he didn’t know any further details than what was on the RFQ. A call to Media Relations was directed to Chuck Davis in facilities management, but only got his voice mail. He didn’t call back.
Finally, I ambushed University Architect David Neuman at the quarterly coordinated planning meeting of UVA, Charlottesville and Albemarle. He quickly directed me to Colette Sheehy, University vice president for management and budget—who, fortunately for me, was standing a few feet away.
“We’re exploring the opportunity,” said Sheehy about the parking garage. “The reason that we’ve rushed it is that if we want to do it, we want to hit the right cycle in the football seasons.” The new parking garage would be jointly funded by the University and the Virginia Athletic Foundation (which apparently has a little extra cash this season). Sheehy said that in the next week or so, the University and the VAF will decide whether to go forward with it or whether to cancel the RFQ.
“All the financial turmoil,” said Sheehy, “has caused everyone to take a closer look at these things.” If you want to take a closer look at the RFQ, click here.