Parking in downtown McKinney will be a lot easier to find as council approves a lease agreement for the new parking garage.[/caption]

The city council approved a lease agreement tonight for the already approved parking garage in downtown McKinney.

The parking garage will be located near the northeast corner of Chestnut and Virginia streets. The five-story parking garage will include 310 spaces and cost approximately $7.5 million. The garage is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year.

The parking garage will be leased by the city and requires the property owner to contract the design and construction of the garage. The city will prepay a portion of the lease and the remaining lease will be paid over a five-year period.

The city established a parking committee after a 2015 bond failed to construct a garage. The committee identified several other parking solutions and identified specific zones for a potential parking garage. The garage is within one of those zones and city officials said this will be the first of many parking garages downtown.

City staff said parking garages are needed because downtown area businesses do not have to provide parking due to the historic buildings already developed downtown. Staff said should the city have those in place for downtown businesses, buildings would have to be demolished and the look and feel of downtown would be destroyed.