Finance

Second phase of 5-year restoration project for Palm Avenue garage in downtown Sarasota expected to begin later this year

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City Commission approves $460,000 contract with Oakland Park firm

The Palm Avenue garage, near the intersection of Palm and Cocoanut avenues in downtown Sarasota, was the city’s first garage. File photo

With a unanimous vote this week, the Sarasota City Commission approved the second phase of a five-year restoration project for the Palm Avenue Parking Garage, with $460,771 to be paid to Concrete Protection and Restoration LLC for the work.

The company has an office in Oakland Park, Florida, its website shows.

The Agenda Request form for the item, which was part of the commission’s Oct. 6 first Consent Agenda of routine business matters, explains that the garage restoration initiative began in 2022 with a focus on “structural repairs, drainage, waterproofing, overhead cracks, and barrier cables …”

That form pointed out that the Palm Avenue garage, which is located at 1289 N. Palm, is “the oldest city owned parking structure … The need for these repairs had been identified by an Engineering firm previously.”

The garage opened in December 2010.

Among the work that will be part of this second phase, the document continued, will be repairs of concrete columns, beams and joists, ceilings, and floors. Additionally, it noted, cracks and joints will be sealed and stucco will be repaired. The work, the Agenda Request Form said, “will ensure the safety of the parking structure and increase the lifetime usage of the facility.”

The Invitation for Bids did ask companies to list at least five parking garage projects on which they had worked. Concrete Protection and Restoration noted the following:

Image courtesy City of Sarasota
This is one of the issues the company is expected to address in the garage. Image courtesy City of Sarasota

The project is expected to get underway before the end of this year, city Communications Specialist Luke Mocherman told The Sarasota News Leader in an Oct. 6 email.

A third and final phase of repairs and restoration will follow this initiative, the form pointed out. That is anticipated to occur in 2027, it added.

The package that the city issued for the Invitation to Bid on the project explained that the garage comprises six stories with 743 parking spaces. The document said that the work may take place between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends and on holidays.

Among other details, it noted the following:

  • “Parking stalls may not be blocked off without first coordinating with City of Sarasota Parking Department.
  • Work within drive aisles must be coordinated with City of Sarasota Parking Department. Work may need to be completed at nights or on weekends.”