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Projected cost of new Mount Prospect parking garage rises $900,000

Now that Mount Prospect has more concrete numbers for its planned Maple Street parking garage, the village board has ramped up the maximum cost it expects to incur for building the new deck near the downtown Metra station.

On Tuesday, the village board amended the Maple Street Lofts Redevelopment Agreement to raise the cost of the 268-space garage to $6.87 million, an increase of about $900,000.

The Prospect and Main Tax Increment Financing District established by the village in 2017 will fund the project.

The board also authorized Nicholas & Associates Inc., the developer of the adjacent Maple Street Lofts project, to lead the construction.

Public Works Director Sean Dorsey said the initial $6 million price tag was the best estimate available at the time.

Costs for concrete and related materials have risen since then, Mayor Arlene Juracek said.

"Those materials are just more expensive than were thought when we came up with the original engineering estimate," she said.

In an effort to minimize the impact of those rising costs, planners altered the garage's design, eliminating some below ground parking spaces and replacing them with more spots above ground.

"Those (underground) spaces tend to be the most costly, because of the excavation and the concrete that's involved," Dorsey said.

Nick Papanicholas Jr. of Nicholas & Associates said the spaces that were eliminated would have added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the project.

Dorsey hinted there could be extra costs down the line after the structure is built. The deck, for instance, will feature one elevator, but a shaft will exist to allow the addition of another.

Trustee Richard Rogers expressed concern about future costs.

"I feel like we're just adding this stuff later until the real cost is kind of buried in our overall budget," he said. "It's not part of this project, and that bothers me."

Village Manager Michael Cassady said much of that future work, which also includes interior painting, closed-circuit cameras and charging equipment for electric vehicles, were not included because it would cost more if Nicholas, rather than the village, does the work. He also stressed the need to get the deck finished, something Nicholas said could happen by July.

The garage is part of the $110 million Maple Street Lofts redevelopment on the south side of the railroad tracks in the village's downtown. The project also includes a six-story, mixed-use building with 192 apartments and more than 14,000 square feet of retail space, and a seven-story building with 65 apartments and 56 row homes.

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