While it is still early on in the process, the City of Bozeman and Gallatin County have partnered together to look at putting in a new parking garage behind the Gallatin County Courthouse.
“Commission asked us to secure a second site for a second parking garage in downtown Bozeman,” says Bozeman Economic Development Program Manager, Mike Veselik.
The site where a future garage would go is currently a surface lot right behind the Gallatin County Courthouse on Mendenhall Street.
“We think it’s a net benefit to the community and it’s going to be great for downtown to expand parking,” says Gallatin County Administrator, Jim Doar.
If the garage is built, the structure would be similar in size to the garage down the street on Black Ave.
“The current garage has 435 spaces looks like the county site could support about 400 spaces,” says Veselik
The project would be on the county site, but the city would be paying for the project. Money for this project would come from the Downtown Tax Increment district and paid parking downtown.
“Ensuring the necessary revenue and financing for that project. The parking garage is estimated to be $16.5 million on that site,” says Veselik.
The City and the County both agree that this would be necessary for downtown and those who need to go to the courthouse.
“We're trading parking for parking, our goal in all of this is that first citizens have access to the building,” says Doar.
But before we get too excited, more downtown parking is still a ways away.
“The likely timeline for a parking garage would be at the end of 2025 at the earliest,” says Veselik.
The city is still asking for public input, so it could be a couple of years before we have more parking downtown.
MTN's Edgar Cedillo searches for an available parking spot downtown for 10 minutes:
