Cost Not Yet Known: Goodale project could provide as many as 100 new spaces for shoppers

Local officials will meet later this month with a national investment house to explore ways to secure funding for a proposed two-level parking garage along Goodale Street that might help solve downtown parking problems.

Representatives from National Development Council of New York City will be in Watertown at the end of the month to talk to city officials and Gary C. Beasley, executive director of Neighbors of Watertown Inc., about whether the investment firm can provide any financial assistance for the two-level parking garage.

Providing as many as 100 additional parking spaces, the deck would be built on adjacent parking lots at City Hall and a building at 215 Washington St., owned by Advantage Watertown member Brian H. Murray. It may be designed to be connected to the parking lot for Flower Memorial Library.

Still in the early stages of planning, the city hasn't put together any cost projections for the project, said Kenneth A. Mix, the city's planning and community development coordinator. Last week, Advantage Watertown, a group of business and city leaders, got a brief update about the project.

The council was an investor in the $10 million Franklin Building rehabilitation project that Neighbors completed earlier this year. The investment firm has also worked with other communities on getting municipal parking garages built, and could provide some expertise in the types of financing that might be available if the city pursues the project, Mr. Beasley said.

"We'll look for other sources," said City Manager Mary M. Corriveau, adding she envisions "a public/private partnership" to get it built.

In recent years, some Public Square merchants have complained about a lack of parking near their businesses. Last month, members of Advantage Watertown said they were looking at whether a parking deck could solve the longtime downtown parking woes.

The city owns the J. B. Wise parking lot north of Public Square, now undergoing a $2.3 million revamping, and parking lots on State Street and between Clinton and Stone streets. There also are a number of other parking lots, not available to the public, in the area.