The City of West Hollywood will begin construction on its West Hollywood City Hall Automated Garage and Community Plaza Project, popularly known as the “robo garage,” in March. Construction of the automated garage and plaza will take place in the area now occupied by a surface parking lot at City Hall at 8300 Santa Monica Blvd. at Sweetzer. Construction is expected to continue until August 2015.
On March 10, the city will close its surface parking lot at City Hall to all vehicles. Visitor parking will be moved to the Kings Road Municipal Parking Garage located two blocks west of City Hall at 8383 Santa Monica Blvd. at Kings Road. On-site staff in the parking office at the Kings Road garage will be available to assist people. Parking validations for City Hall visitors will be available at the lobby reception desk at City Hall. In addition, there will be a free shuttle available during City Hall’s open hours, Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for people who need assistance in traveling between the Kings Road garage and City Hall.
A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at West Hollywood City Hall on March 17 at 5 p.m. to celebrate the beginning of construction on the $18 million project.
The robo garage project includes a 200-space parking garage that will match the height of the three-story City Hall next to it and a 25-foot wide community plaza between the two buildings. This represents a net increase of 132 spaces.
The garage will contain four entry bays, and it will feature a large glass window facing east toward Sweetzer Avenue where people can watch as mechanical shuttles carry vehicles in and out of bays. The design includes roof-mounted photovoltaic solar panels, use of a sustainable material made from recycled grocery bags and drought-tolerant landscaping. There will also be a fixed art installation by artist Ned Kahn, whose concept consists of a grid of large glass marbles that will reflect the moving parts inside the garage.
West Hollywood’s new garage will be the first municipal project of its kind on the West Coast. The automated garage is designed by LPA Inc. The mechanical system that stores and retrieves vehicles is designed by Unitronics. The structure will be built by T.B. Penick & Sons Inc., a San Diego-based contractor that has built numerous parking structures as well as private and municipal buildings around Southern California. More information about the project is available online.
That part of town definitely needs 220 more spaces. But why they needed to make it this robo-contraption is just puzzling. Should have just built it underground.
In two years maybe it will work and maybe it will not. Here’s the problems this company had/is having in New Jersey. http://hoboken411.com/archives/3524 Didn’t D’Amico say there is one working in Mexico somewhere? The one in Santa Monica is STILL having problems. This has all the earmarks of a multi-million dollar debacle. Could be amusing to watch…if you don’t have to go to City Hall for any reason at all for the next 2-4 years…if you’re lucky.
I am canceling all my engagements until further notice – this is the event of the decade s far. And such a needed improvement.
Well, I guess it’s inevitable. Perhaps it will be come a tourist attraction with those large glass windows facing Sweetzer with the unintended consequence of people parking there just to watch the show.
The giant round glass robogarage at VW’s Autostadt theme park in Wolfsburg, Germany is a major tourist attraction. Behold the CarTower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M213o0XRho