West Valley City to build Fairbourne Station parking structure

West Valley City • A planned five-story parking garage at Fairbourne Station could be completed and opened to the public by fall of 2015 if all the pieces fall into place, city officials said Tuesday.

The structure, designed to hold 826 stalls, will serve multiple purposes — providing parking to workers in nearby offices, to residents of nearby apartments now under construction, to shoppers at Valley Fair Mall and for mass-transit riders using TRAX light-rail or buses at the city's transit hub.

The planned city-owned structure will sit at 3950 S. Market St. on land owned by the Utah Transit Authority, Instead of making lease payments to UTA, the city has worked out a "trade agreement" by reserving the entire bottom level — some 202 stalls — for transit riders. UTA also will provide $13,000 annually to help with maintenance costs.

Transit users will not be charged for parking. UTA originally had considered paid parking but chose not to go that route because of past experiences, Hagop Arslanian, West Valley City facilities support services manager, said — an apparent reference to two multi-million dollar parking structures built near the Jordan Valley TRAX station in West Jordan but largely sitting empty.

Construction is estimated to cost between $14 million and $16 million. The city already has secured an appropriation of $10 million, with revenue from state vehicle registration fees.

"We have a majority of funding in place, but not all funding," said Wayne Pyle, city manager.

The land agreements reference some historic ownership disputes with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But Arslanian said this shouldn't be a problem because the LDS Church donated the space to UTA about three years ago for public transportation use and "we're fulfilling that need."

The city contracted EDA Architects to design and construct the parking structure. Arslanian said the company has finished with the design and are currently working on fine-tuning the drawings and provisions. 

The structure will architecturally match the design of other buildings in the area. It also will feature glass staircases and elevators. There will also be seating and landscaping outside of the building. 

"There's quite a bit of thought put behind there," Arslanian said. The structure is not "just a concrete building. There's a lot of design to it."

The city plans to finalize a blueprint in July and if funding goes as planned, it will break ground in August. Arslanian hopes the structure will be complete by August 2015 and open to the public the following month.

The surrounding Fairbourne Station area will contain two plazas, office space, restaurants, the library, high-density residential housing and city government buildings. Officials want it to be a hub of activity and leisure for West Valley residents. They are weighing options for plug-ins for electric cars and bike sharing, similar to downtown Salt Lake City's GREENbike program. 

"We're trying to get the look the community deserves," Arslanian said. "This will be a great amenity."