Drainpipe delays opening of GMC parking deck

GAINESVILLE – The long wait for the opening of the new $6.5 million Georgia Mountains Center parking deck may soon be over, according to one Gainesville city councilman, and some downtown merchants say its high time.

It’s high time because downtown is on the eve of what merchants hope will be a busy Christmas season. Councilman Danny Dunagan, City Council’s representative for Main Street Gainesville, says he understands their anxiety.

“The merchants were promised that thing would be open,” Dunagan said. “We waited until after January 1st so it would not interfere with their Christmas season last year and now here it is interfering with their Christmas season this year. It should have been open, maybe with the rain we’ve had, September or October at the latest.”

When a contractor fails to finish a project on time, there can be monetary penalties. According to Dunagan, the city just wants the deck finished and open.

“No, all we’re wanting to do is get the deck open and go about business,” he said. “We’ve been very disappointed that it’s not open for the merchants downtown especially during this time of the season.”

“I don’t think it’s a secret that it hasn’t opened yet,” said Linda Orenstein, owner of Gem Jewelry, one of the square’s longtime businesses. “We understand that they don’t want to open it until it’s safe, but it seems to me that after almost a year it could have been done.”

Dunagan says the wait may soon be over, as early as Tuesday, depending on how things go with a leaky drainpipe under the deck’s bottom floor.

“The drain pipe is leaking and has been leaking,” Dunagan said. “We’ve had a company come in with equipment to see and make sure there are no ‘voids’ (washouts) around that pipe. Once we realize there are no washouts around the pipe, it will be safe to open the parking deck. Hopefully if everything checks out from the reports from the engineering company, we can get this thing open by Tuesday.”

Dunagan said washouts could affect the parking deck’s footing and could cause a possible collapse, so the pipe has to be lined. According to Dunagan that would not cause a major delay.

“There would be no tearing up. They’ll just go in and put a liner in the pipe and make sure it’s water tight.”

Dunagan said there's no extra cost to the city for this, that the drainpipe job is on the sub-contractor's tab.

The other major delay in finishing the deck is the elevators for the four-story structure that promises over 400 parking places, but Dunagan said the deck could open without the elevators.

That was something the merchants hoped would happen before Mule Camp Market, Gainesville’s big downtown fall festival, opened in October. Dunagan said he does not know why elevator installation was delayed.

“They’re working on the elevators now (and) they’re telling us they hope to have those operating by December the 20th but we can operate the deck without the elevators,” Dunagan said. “We just have to secure the elevator shafts and make sure they’re safe to the public.”

Dunagan said the city could issue a temporary certificate of occupancy with the drainpipe problem solved, then a permanent occupancy certificate once the elevators are running.

Don Griffin at Frames-You-Nique downtown says Christmas shopping so far has been better than last year, but opening the parking deck would be a big plus.

“One of the things we’ve done this year is expand our hours on Thursday and Friday nights until 8:00 p.m. and we’ve been open on Sundays in the afternoon,” Griffin said.

Griffin said there is parking downtown - on the square and down Main Street across from the mountains center - but it’s a psychological thing, with the deck still closed.

“If people didn’t have to walk the two blocks to come downtown, and when you don’t have 400 parking spots, it does make a difference,” Griffin said.

With those 400-plus parking spots not available yet, people attending events at the mountains center who can’t park in the deck pull their vehicles into spaces on the square.

“All the people coming downtown for...mountains center events have to park on the square. They take the shopping parking, basically,” Griffin said.

Griffin an open parking deck would be a great Christmas present from the city to the merchants.

“It would not hurt my feelings if it was an early Christmas present,” Linda Orenstein said.