Tacoma Dome parking lost to LeMay museum likely is gone forever

A decade ago, when the City of Tacoma agreed to give away 42 percent of the Tacoma Dome’s parking space to the LeMay car museum, it promised the lost parking would be replaced.

The nine acres of asphalt given to the LeMay group contained more than 1,000 spaces and, according to the original gifting arrangement, most were to be replaced by the city before construction started.

The LeMay-America’s Car Collection’s $60 million facility is finished. The Stutz Bearcats and Duesenburgs are being polished for a grand opening in June.

So where’s the replacement parking?

It was never built.

Furthermore, it appears unlikely it ever will be.

“Basically, I don’t think anybody figured it out,” City Councilman David Boe said recently, paging through a thick file of Dome parking documents at his downtown office. “I think everybody just kept punting it down the road.”

Council members unanimously approved an agreement in 2002 that obligated the city to replace lost parking. That legal obligation was modified and then lost entirely in subsequent agreements, as the museum downsized its development plans and the national economy crashed.

The loss has resulted in higher parking rates at the Dome as the city seeks to compensate for fewer spaces. It has managers of the Dome and the car museum juggling schedules to avoid booking big events on the same days. And it has some owners of surrounding businesses complaining about traffic jams and lack of street parking.

The replacement parking was stalled by several things – the poor economy, financial analyses indicating that new freestanding garages wouldn’t pay for themselves and practical problems at building sites near the Dome.

A broader national trend contributed.

Urban planners say the days of big civic gathering places surrounded by acres of parking are a thing of the past. More and more, public arenas in urban areas are emphasizing mass transit and relying on shared parking owned by others.

“Building a parking structure will not guarantee that people will use it,” Rob Henson, the city’s acting public facilities director and Dome manager, said in a parking analysis prepared in June for then-City Manager Eric Anderson.

The average attendance at Dome concerts has been trending downward over the past two years, to between 10,000 and 12,000 people, Henson noted. At an average of 2.3 people per car, that means about 5,000 people are looking for a place to park at any of those typical events.

Dome parking lots can handle 1,800, Henson said, and the rest find parking without much difficulty elsewhere downtown.

“We currently see many patrons that seek less expensive or free parking options downtown or in offsite areas,” he said. “The parking structure may not be fully utilized for 70 to 75 percent of the time.”

MONEY, SCHEDULING ISSUES

So who gets hurt if the Dome parking never gets replaced?

Patrons who drive to big events, obviously, and who now must find somewhere else to park or pay higher rates at the Dome.

To make up for revenue from the lost spaces, Dome managers increased what they charge for those that remain. Parking rates for major events have climbed to $20 to $25 from $15. For smaller events, rates went to $10 from $8.

The Dome’s bottom line will be affected, too, but not much.

Parking income averaged about $1.3 million a year between 2008 and 2010 – about 19 percent of the Dome’s total revenue. Henson projects 2011-14 parking revenues still will be about $1.2 million annually, even with 42 percent reduced space capacity because of the museum.

The shortfall is projected to be about $100,000 a year, Henson said, because of the increased rates and because the Dome plans to restripe the main lot to accommodate an additional 195 vehicles. In the reconfiguration, 30 percent of spaces will become “compact” stalls, which means they’ll be 12 inches narrower and 18 inches shorter than standard spaces.

The $100,000 shortfall does not take into account the parking revenue likely to be generated from LeMay events, Henson noted. When either the Dome or the museum needs more parking space, they’ll rent the other’s space, when it’s available.

The fact that the Dome once had so much of its own parking – about 2,800 spaces – made it the envy of managers of other civic arenas around the Northwest.

Less parking means less flexibility in scheduling.

“We’re going through the calculations and identifying target dates for the big events that draw thousands of people so we can try to accommodate their (the car museum’s) parking,” Henson said. “It’s a real challenge and hard to figure out, but it will happen. We’re managing.”

And the LeMay car museum people?

Disappointed but understanding, said Paul Miller, the former City Council member who oversaw construction of the museum and now is its acting operations chief.

“It’s unfortunate that we have less parking than we hoped for,” Miller said, “but the reality is, these are difficult times for all of us in finding revenue streams for doing what we want to do.”

The new museum has its own asphalt parking lot, which can accommodate 140 to 150 cars.

In addition, it has a newly planted 3.5-acre grass “show field” that it plans to use for auto shows. The field has a plastic liner and a drainage system that theoretically will make the grass field useable as an overflow parking lot when necessary – even in wet, soggy months.

“It will take the weight of a fire engine,” Miller promised.

The show field will be able to accommodate 250 to 280 vehicles and will be available for Dome parking when there are no scheduling conflicts, Miller said. The difference is that the museum (or more precisely, its wholly owned parking subsidiary) will keep the parking fees – not the Dome.

Miller said that, at least initially, he expects the museum to run short of parking only during especially large events, such as its grand opening in June, at which he’s expecting between 30,000 and 40,000 people.

The extra parking spaces also might be missed at the Kirkland Concours d’ Elegance, an annual Northwest classic car show scheduled to take place at the museum in September.

And the Dome? Does it need more parking?

“That’s not a clear yes or no,” Henson said.

The museum’s grand opening in the first week of June won’t be a problem, he said, because that’s when outdoor venues open their summer season, and the Dome typically doesn’t book big concerts then anyway. As for the Concours in September, he said, it’s primarily a daytime event, leaving open the possibility of an evening booking for the Dome.

Existing parking at the Dome, plus public lots elsewhere in the city – about 7,000 spaces within the Dome District and the city core – are sufficient to handle most events, he said.

The only times parking is critically short, Henson said, is during the biggest Lady Gaga-class concerts, which attract 20,000 people and occur two or three times a year, and some all-day sporting events, such as the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s wrestling and gymnastic championships in February.

“There’s no way you could build enough parking for those shows,” he said.

Decreased parking at the Dome has made the wrestling and gymnastic championships, which attract 40,000 to 50,000 people for the weekend, even more of a logistical challenge, said John Miller, assistant executive director of the WIAA.

“It’s obviously changed. There’s no question,” Miller said. “We all knew going into it that losing a thousand spots was going to be a problem.”

The association has made do by advising teams and spectators well in advance that they need to find parking elsewhere in the city, he said.

Another expensive effect, Miller said, is that the Dome stopped donating parking space for staff and team parking.

“Now we have to buy them at $10 per day per space,” he said. “That means about an additional $10,000 cost for the association.”

When the car museum needs more parking, the Dome will offer its space, when available, charging rates that will generate income for the Dome.

Dome managers have tried to deal with the lost parking by more efficiently loading and unloading its parking lots and by boosting a public relations campaign to encourage people to park in the downtown core and use the Link Light Rail or Pierce Transit.

Coming up with the most efficient traffic patterns over the past two years has been painful at times, resulting in delays and jams.

“We tried three or four different scenarios,” Henson said. “Some things, we found out the hard way.”

“Our plan has reduced congestion, evidenced by how quickly patrons are being scanned into the building prior to show time,” he said. “We know that frustration has been reduced, as we get fewer and fewer complaints overall.”

Dome events sometimes clog traffic on Interstate 5, but rarely, said Washington State Patrol trooper Guy Gill.

“We’ve seen no significant change since they built the museum,” Gill said.

PARKING ENVY

Even with just 1,800 parking stalls remaining, the Dome still is the envy of other big Puget Sound area arenas, most of which have proportionately fewer spaces compared to their seating capacity. Seattle’s Safeco Field, which seats nearly 48,000 people (more than twice the Dome’s capacity) owns just 2,000 parking spaces.

The City of Everett’s 10,000-seat Comcast Arena, which opened in 2003, has no parking of its own at all. Kim Bedier, the arena’s general manager, said she would love to own parking spaces because of the revenue they generate.

Still, she said, Everett’s arena operates efficiently, even when fully booked, by relying on street parking and nearby lots, including a 1,200-space Snohomish County parking facility that, during the day, serves county offices and the county jail.

As helpful as it is for arenas to operate their own parking, Bedier said, a combination of environmental and economic factors work against that as a model.

“The ideal facility of the future would be built with really excellent public transit,” she said. “But in the Puget Sound area we’ve been slow to make that happen.  

“The fact is, people want to drive.”

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

As for businesses owners in the Tacoma’s Dome district, they react differently to the fact that parking has not been replaced.

“It stinks,” said Lu Lyons-Bridges, owner of Leila’s Deli and Lyons-Bridges Massage, both on 26th Street, a couple of minutes walk from the Dome.

People who used to park in the Dome lots during events now spill into the surrounding streets, she said, taking all available parking and making it impossible for her customers to find space.

“There is nowhere to park,” she said.

Lyons-Bridges doesn’t like the idea of busing people in from lots farther away, either, at least from a business perspective.

When people arrive at the Dome on buses, she said, they tend to go straight to their events and then get straight back on the bus, never venturing into nearby streets.

“When they’re more at leisure to come and go, they’re more likely to drop in at local businesses,” she said.

Dozens of private property owners near the Dome, who supplement their income by renting out parking space during events, are not complaining.

“It’s been good for us, in a way,” said Maureen Smith, who for the past 10 years has managed the Tacoma Book Center, separated from the Dome’s busiest parking lot by a low rock wall and an alley.

The Book Center has a small parking lot of its own, where, with careful arrangement, owners can squeeze in 27 cars, at rates that range from $7 to $40, depending on demand.

“With the shortage of parking for the Dome,” Smith said, “we’ve noticed that people are more willing to park in our lot, at a premium.” (The Dome’s top rate is $25.)

Mike Brown, owner of Tacoma Bike, with its own parking lot north of the Dome on Puyallup Avenue, says he doesn’t really care about the lost parking.

“To us, it’s been zero effect,” Brown said.

“I’m not a fan of having 50 acres of open parking for 10 or 20 events a year,” he said. “It’s what we do, because it’s convenient.”

“The replacement parking was proposed 10 years ago when it didn’t look like there was going to be a leak in the bucket,” Brown said. “Times have changed.”

Rob Carson: 253-597-8693

rob.carson@thenewstribune.com