New Garage Planned for St. Luke’s

Southcoast has begun construction on a new parking garage to address parking and traffic issues around St. Luke’s Hospital.

When completed in March 2009, the three-story, 31,000-square-foot parking garage will house 345 cars with an additional 34 surface parking places for a total of 379 new parking spaces.

“The Taber Street Parking Garage will address our long-term parking and traffic solutions,” said Linda Bodenmann, Chief Operating Officer at Southcoast. “We have been working closely with the neighbors on a solution that is in the best interest of the neighborhood-at-large, our patients and employees.”

The plan calls for Taber Street to become a two-way street between Page Street and the garage, with the entrance and exit to the garage from Taber Street.

The street will be closed to through traffic to alleviate congestion on the west side of the hospital or the Priscilla and Gould streets side of the campus. Another important aspect of the garage is aesthetics and green space, Bodenmann said.

“We have taken great care to design a building that will complement the neighborhood and add green space,” she said. “Our goal is to make the building blend in with the existing campus and improve the neighborhoods adjacent to the hospital with particular emphasis on the view from West Street. In addition to trees and greenery, we plan to build a stone wall similar to the one on Page and Hawthorn streets.”

During construction, Southcoast will operate a shuttle service for employees and construction workers who will park at an off-site location to make up for parking spaces lost to construction staging.