Early conceptual design for an eight-story parking garage and convention center (top floor, in aquamarine). This view is from the intersection of G Street and the alley between Third and Fourth, looking roughly north-northwest (toward the bay). The EaRTH Center, which has been funded but not yet built, is shown in the lower right. | Image via City of Eureka.



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PREVIOUSLY

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The City of Eureka has partnered with Humboldt Transit Authority to explore the prospects of a multi-story parking structure that would transform the city’s humble downtown skyline. 

As the start of construction approaches for the Eureka Regional Transit & Housing (EaRTH) Center — to be built on the city-owned parking lots behind the Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe — Eureka and HTA are studying a grant opportunity that could finance a multi-story parking facility and convention center across the street, on the corner of Third and G streets.

“A feasibility study is in the early stages to determine if it is a viable project for a grant application,” HTA Deputy General Manager Katie Collender told the Outpost in an email.

A consultant was hired to prepare some preliminary conceptual designs for a structure that meets the grant criteria. We’ll take a closer look at those designs below, but first, both Collender and Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery sought to make one thing clear: The primary purpose of this parking tower would not be added convenience for shoppers, tourists and car commuters.

Instead, the intent is a park & ride — a “first mile/last mile” facility that reduces overall vehicle miles traveled by encouraging people to park their cars so they can, say, ride a bike to Cal Poly Humboldt, take a ride share to work or catch a bus to the airport.

“That’s a big component of the grant that they’ll be going for,” Slattery said. The grant is funded by the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP), and Collender explained that the feasibility study currently under way will need to show that the structure would significantly reduce vehicle miles traveled; otherwise there’s no point in applying. It will also need to show that the building would be cost-neutral to operate.

“Other transit agencies own and operate park & rides to bolster ridership and diversify revenue,” Collender said. “This study will help us understand if one would make sense in Eureka.”

With all that said, let’s look at some more conceptual images of the very preliminary designs. In fact, Slattery said this particular design has already been modified to include even more parking spaces (this version has 216 stalls), increased bike storage and slightly decreased retail space.

The concept, here, is an eight-story parking structure with an 8,500-square-foot convention center on the top floor and, on the ground floor, bike storage and new retail space. The existing buildings along F Street (including a massage parlor and the former Mazzotti’s restaurant) would remain, with parking built atop them. [CORRECTION: The parking structure would not extend west as far as those buildings, according to Slattery.]

The structure would be built on the northeast corner of the city block between Third and Fourth and F and G streets. Here’s a Google Earth image to orient you:

Looking south from the intersection of Third and G. | Google Earth.

And here are a few conceptual images from the same vantage:

The EaRTH Center can be seen in the bottom-left. The 8,500-square-foot convention center is in aquamarine on the top floor. Bottom-floor retail is also shown in aquamarine.

G Street would be reduced to a single northbound lane between Third and Fourth streets and the upper floors would be cantilevered above what’s now the southbound lane.

The structure would be built across the street from the historic Carson Block Building.

At eight stories high, this would easily be the tallest building in Eureka. 

“I would say north of San Francisco, maybe. I don’t think Santa Rosa has anything that big,” Slattery said. (The boiler building at the former Samoa Pulp Mill would still be taller, at 200 feet, but it’s no longer in use.)

Below is a cutaway image showing the ground floor, the top floor and one in the middle:

Images via City of Eureka.

Collender reiterated that this is still very early in the process. The state is looking to transit agencies to do more to generate revenue, and this parking structure with rentable event space could help HTA diversify its income. Grant applications are due May 18.