Parking garage construction to begin in late-March

This spring, in March or early April, ground will be broken on a parking garage to be built on what is currently a parking lot at the intersection of Hamilton and Boone.

This parking garage, which will take up the entire block, is the first step towards the ultimate construction of a new student center, which will take up the lot where the COG and the parking lot to its east currently stand. Before construction begins on the student center, Gonzaga is building this parking garage, which will have four levels, to replace the space currently available in the lot next to the COG.

"This is a precursor building for the University Center," said Chuck Murphy, vice president for finance. "The University Center is going to be such a large building, with meeting rooms and space for events, that the city is requiring us to add more parking."

There is currently no date sent for the construction of the University Center as GU is still working on raising the funds for such a large project. However, a contingency plan for student dining once the COG has been bulldozed is already in place.

"The retail space on the lower level of the garage facing Hamilton will be used on an interim basis as baord dining," Murphy said.

Once the new dining hall is complete, the school plans to rent the lower level of the garage out to businesses to use as retail space.

This garage will have approximately 650 car parks  and will cost $12 - $13 million, according to Murphy. This construction will provide significantly more space to the currently crowded parking lots around campus.

The garage is expected to be complete in Jan. 2013.