POLK COUNTY PARKING GARAGE

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

As part of a design-build team with HOAR Construction, STA provided comprehensive architectural and engineering design services for this 4-level parking garage . Sited in the heart of Bartow on the Polk County Government Campus, the 679 spaces of the parking garage will serve the 5-story Polk County Neil Combee Administration Building to the east, the 10-story County Courthouse to the south, and the Lawrence Crow Building (Polk County Sheriff’s Central Booking & Court Processing) to the east. A covered walkway protects pedestrians walking from the garage to the  Courthouse across Church Street and includes DOT approved pedestrian safety signs & lighting. The garage was structurally designed to support a solar energy array of photo-voltaic panels above the top deck in the future.

The garage project is located on the site of a previously constructed 180-space surface parking lot. In addition to the 679 spaces within the garage, the project developed 13 new surface parking spaces outside the garage. The design developed a more efficient public transportation interchange with the creation of a “bus only” drive and loading area along the east side of the facility that provides staging/waiting space for 3 full-size buses. This element combined with ample parking areas for motorcycles, scooters & bicycles makes the project a complete multi-modal facility.

Following multiple feasibility studies by various consultants spanning over a decade and several years of planning, design and construction our firm was very appreciative to be a part of the team to bring the idea to reality. As the architectural firm that designed the adjacent Polk County Neil Combee Administration Building (1990) as well as extensive renovations to the Lawrence Crow Building (1986), and the garage is a great example of how Straughn Trout continues to work with clients over time to develop effective, efficient and safe campus environments.