Central Street Parking Garage
Located in Berkeley’s downtown Arts District, this eight-level parking garage is the first new city garage built in nearly a decade. The new 720-space garage also includes retail space, an art gallery, a sidewalk café, bicycle parking, and public bathrooms. This convenient location is near downtown businesses, theaters, and the Civic Center.
Site Square Footage: 248,000 sq. ft.
Date Completed: 2018
Construction Cost: $40 million
Client: City of Berkeley, Conversion Management Associates, Inc.
Architect: International Parking Design
Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Civil Engineer: BKF Engineers
General Contractor: Overra
The garage contains a multitude of sustainable features, including rooftop solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, a rainwater collection cistern, and stormwater treatment vegetation.
Rockridge Geotechnical (RG) performed the geotechnical investigation, consultation during design, and geotechnical services during construction. Based on the results of our field investigation, the primary geotechnical concerns were the presence of moderately expansive near-surface soil, relatively weak and compressible subsurface soils, and adjacent structures.
The parking garage was ultimately founded with spread footings bearing on ground improved with drilled displacement columns (DDCs) to reduce settlement and avoid surcharging adjacent buildings' foundations and basement walls. Rockridge Geotechnical also recommended lime treatment of the near-surface soil to mitigate the effects of expansive soil.
This project is the 2019 winner of the Sustainability Project of the Year by the National Parking Association.