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Proposed Parking Garage Will Fill Need During LGA Construction: Developers

By Katie Honan | June 4, 2015 9:34am | Updated on June 5, 2015 6:01pm
 The eight-story garage will be built next to a Marriott on Ditmars Boulevard, developers said.
The eight-story garage will be built next to a Marriott on Ditmars Boulevard, developers said.
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DNAinfo/Katie Honan

EAST ELMHURST — A parking company is planning an eight-story garage next to a hotel to help fill the void when construction takes away parking spaces at LaGuardia Airport, developers said.

The Parking Spot, which already operates a garage on 94th Street in East Elmhurst, is working with the LaGuardia Marriott at 102-05 Ditmars Blvd. to build a large parking structure on top of an adjacent lot.

The garage will add between 1,500 and 2,200 spots, developers said, and will focus mostly on long-term parking from travelers at the nearby airport.

There are seven parking lots at LaGuardia Airport, according to the Port Authority's website. At any given time individual lots are nearly 100 percent full, according to a tracker.

The airport is set to lose between 1,000 and 2,000 spots during a $3.6 billion terminal upgrade, the lot's developers said.

The Port Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The new garage across the Grand Central Parkway will help fill that need while also keeping cars off local streets, they said.

Developers presented their plans to Community Board 3's land use committee on Monday, showing designs that are intended to make the proposed garage attractive to the surrounding community. 

There will be green screens around the garage on both the Ditmars Boulevard and Grand Central Parkway sides.

And dozens of trees and daffodils will be planted on Ditmars, with public seating installed on nearby bus stops, developers told the board.

The average car is parked at The Parking Spot locations for four days, minimizing traffic issues from cars flowing in and out of the garage on a daily basis, according to Evan Stavisky from The Parkside Group, which is representing the project. 

The board members said they'd continue going over the proposal before giving it the OK — although not all thought the plans were a good idea.

Member Ed Westley said parking for the airport was now "encroaching in our neighborhoods," when it had previously been self-contained at the site. 

Others were concerned about traffic issues on Ditmars Boulevard.

The designers said they'd continue to work on designs and expect to get the project certified by the fall.