Market ready to tackle parking
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, April 28, 2002
HIGH POINT — Fresh from an overhaul of the market's shuttle system, the International Home Furnishings Market Authority moved ahead last week on another major headache — parking.
The board agreed the lack of reasonably priced downtown parking is still first on the complaint list of many marketgoers, but said finding additional space for parking will be difficult and expensive.
"We'd like to have some improvements in place for October …but realistically, it's probably going to be April 2003," Market Authority President Judy Mendenhall told the board.
Mendenhall, who joked that she had the word parking "emblazoned on my forehead," said the authority has discussed purchasing land that could be converted into parking lots, and has even considered building a parking garage.
However, she noted that tracts of land large enough for a parking lot are hard to find, and said a garage typically costs at least $10,000 per space to construct. Thus, a 500-vehicle garage would cost at least $5 million, not including the cost of the land.
The Market Authority's total budget for the current fiscal year is $1.48 million.
Mendenhall and others said they had received many positive comments about the new shuttle system. The trolley buses used to ferry marketgoers around downtown received the most feedback, including complaints about the lack of air-conditioning on hot days.
"You have to remember that it has snowed here during the April market," Mendenhall said. "We had (them) put in new heating systems just before market because we were afraid it was going to be too cold."
She told board members she believes her goal of a 25% increase in ridership on hotel shuttles was met, and reported that all five satellite park-and-ride lots were full nearly every day. On the official opening day of market, in fact, four extra buses were needed to get attendees from the lots to the market in a timely manner, she said.
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