Heavy machinary and lane closures signal the upcoming demolition of the Civic Center garage in downtown Springfield. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 7/19/2022

SPRINGFIELD — Passersby will start seeing demolition of Civic Center Garage near the MassMutual Center in early August, clearing the site for construction of a new parking facility.

Also part of the project, the City Council on Monday night transferred $1.4 million for the planned purchase of a half-acre parking lot next door.

At the site, workers are already abating caulking from the expansion joints and the roof membrane. They are also removing the interior lighting at the garage on 41 Harrison Ave., said Nate Little, spokesman for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority which bought the garage from the city in 2020.

Next week, workers will decommission elevators and disconnect utilities and will finish installing fencing at the top of the garage. They have already put Jersey barriers in and traffic directional signs in place.

Workers will add an opaque scrim to the fence surrounding the project to block the project from view and not distract drivers and to control dust, Little said.

The authority plans to build in its place a new, five-story garage with room for 1,000 cars. According to bid documents, the new garage will total 350,000 square feet and cost an estimated $35.3 million.

Lane closures signal the upcoming demolition of the Civic Center garage in downtown Springfield. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 7/19/2022

The specific design of what’s expected to be a precast concrete structure is still not complete. But the Convention Authority told potential bidders that it expects construction to begin in the late fall or early winter of 2022 and to take 13 to 14 months to complete.

Little said the authority decided against reconnecting the garage to MassMutual Center — formerly the Springfield Civic Center — via a skybridge in favor of focusing on street-level improvements.

“Which are coming together nicely and will be exciting, which is not a term commonly associated with a garage project,” Little said.

That goal of bringing more foot traffic to the street is one reason why the project news the parking lot at 22 Bruce Landon Way, said Timothy Sheehan, the city’s chief development officer.

The half-acre lot will be used in the short-term to provide handicapped-accessible parking spots destroyed by the garage demolition.

Long term, the half-acre parking lot could be redeveloped.

“The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority thought is that parcel would be integrated into the parking garage project and also become an extension of MassMutual Center itself,” Sheehan said.

The Springfield Redevelopment Authority will eventually own the property and the actual sale is still being negotiated.

He said the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, owners of the MassMutual Center, has worked hard to mesh its project into the city’s redevelopment vision for the neighborhood, which also envisions more foot traffic.

He said at least part of the first floor of the new garage will be occupied space, especially the area near the MassMutual Center entrance.

Workmen from Daniel O'Connell's Sons, Inc., seen here in 1971 completing installation of a plexiglass canopy on the airwalk connecting the Springfield Civic Center and Civic Center Parking Garage. The skybridge no longer exists and the garage will be demolished in August 2022. The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority decided against rebuilding a skybridge as part of the new design.

During construction, there will be inconvenience for those looking for a place to park, Sheehan said.

But the new garage will represent a net gain of parking spaces over what was available at the end of the old Civic Center Garage’s life.

Built in 1971 with 1,232 spaces, the garage had deteriorated to the point where only 700 were usable. The new garage will have 1,000 spaces.

MGM Springfield, which manages the MassMutual Center, told state gaming regulators it expects that even more arena persons will use its parking garage during construction.

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