The redesign followed feedback received during an October City Council meeting as well as feedback from an evaluation done by the Historic and Architectural Review Commission.
The garage concept was reworked to reduce height and overall visual impact along Austin Avenue. One change involved the garage’s elevators.
Rather than having two elevators that stop at the third floor, the council members came to a consensus that the elevator at the northwest corner along Austin Avenue stop at the third floor and the elevator at the southeast corner stop at the fourth floor.
“Anything we can do to reduce height is a great thing,” District 6 Council Member Jake French said. “I like the redesign a lot of that northwest corner tower, and I think a key component of that is the reduced elevator shaft.”
Jennifer Bettiol, Georgetown’s capital improvement projects manager, said one of the key intents in the design is to maintain a look that is cohesive with the character of the downtown area while having a unique look.
Overall, City Council members were receptive with the direction of the design, but they also provided more feedback about general concerns with the architectural design and look, accessibility, and safety.
“I think we’ve created a handsome building here,” District 2 Council Member Shawn Hood said. “We have to provide accessibility to our neighbor, the Tamiro building.”
Bettiol will bring further details about the garage’s design to council within the next month.
Once construction begins, the project is expected to take 12-14 months to build. Completion is anticipated in fall 2024.
