Waco moves ahead with parking garage to support arena, riverfront development

The city of Waco is preparing to build a parking garage at Clay Avenue and University Parks next to the new Foster Basketball Pavilion.
J.B. Smith, Tribune-Herald
 

Congestion is bad at University Parks Drive and Interstate 35, and it will get worse before improving. Work will begin soon on a towering 450-vehicle parking garage serving future development along the Brazos River.

Assistant Waco City Manager Paul Cain said told a city-county committee Monday that the city is still aiming to finish the garage by January 2024, in time for Baylor basketball season.

Waco and Baylor are collaborating on multi-phased projects that include the parking garage, restaurants, retail and the $213 million Baylor University Foster Pavilion, Baylor’s new basketball venue. The garage will be built with the help of $19 million in Tax Increment Financing Zone contributions, and the final cost will be finalized soon, city officials said Monday.

The project will take a step forward Tuesday as the Waco City Council is set to authorize $3.2 million in additional spending from Austin Commercial, the chosen “contract manager at risk” that oversees the project and assures the project stays within budget. The council’s authorization will allow Austin Commercial to select a final bidder for the project and execute a subcontractor agreement.

The parking garage will have rental space for retail, food and beverages on the first floor to serve the adjacent basketball arena.

Cain on Monday briefed the Waco-McLennan County Intergovernmental Relations Committee on the overall development project around Foster Pavilion, including a rebuilt riverwalk and destination restaurant and retail uses along the city-owned riverfront.

Weitzman, a Texas-based provider of real estate services, functions as a consultant on these ventures. Cain produced visuals showing Weitzman is coordinating talks with more than 50 restaurant operators, and has initiated “detailed discussions” with two concepts, including one of Mexican cuisine.

Waco also plans a major overhaul of its Lake Brazos riverwalk, the modifications designed to mitigate or eliminate flooding. Cain said much of 2023 will be spent getting permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Emergency Management Agency. Completion should come in 2025.

The committee meeting Monday included McLennan County Commissioners Ben Perry, Jim Smith and Will Jones, County Judge Scott Felton, Mayor Dillon Meek and council members Andrea Barefield, David Horner and Jim Holmes. Several city and county department heads and staffers also attended.

Cain also discussed dry conditions plaguing Waco and McLennan County, saying a third of the county now finds itself in an extreme drought. If significant rainfall avoids the area, he said, conditions will worsen to the point the city may have to impose watering restrictions. He cautioned that those striving to have the greenest yard in Waco may have to lower their sights.

“I would hate to see the day we have to turn down a good company paying good wages because we don’t have the water to meet their needs,” Felton said. The county judge recently joined in announcing that Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging International would invest $1 billion to build and place equipment in a new high-tech paper mill in Waco, using recycled wastewater for its needs.

Officials Monday said the new $8.9 million Lake Air Little League and Challenger League complex under construction along New Road, near the former Lions Park/Kiddieland venue, should be completed in April. That’s not soon enough to accommodate Lake Air Little League’s March 18 opening day, so Lake Air and Challenger will relocate to Waco Riverbend Park on Lake Shore Drive, said Assistant City Manager Lisa Blackmon.

City officials said they are also moving ahead with discussions on how best to create a new family fun and recreation site where the remnants of Waco’s old Lions Park and Kiddieland have been razed. The area at Bosque Boulevard and New Road has become greenspace, but the city has begun a “Lions Park Redevelopment” effort that will solicit public response. At least four public hearings will be held between April and June.