The Miami Today News reported recently that the Miami Parking Authority and the Archdiocese of Miami have nixed plans to build yet another parking garage in Downtown Miami.  Fortunately, a tight credit market has put the plans on hold — the site at 120 NE Second Street sits directly next to another parking garage occupying the rest of the block and directly across the street from the historically important Gesu Catholic Church. 

Although half the block is already occupied by a urbanistically disconnected parking garage the MPA and Archdiocese believe that the best use for a prime downtown site is to build yet another supposed “mixed use” parking garage next to an existing garage — turning the entire city block into a huge parking garage with blank walls even though there are already a plethora of additional garages in the surrounding blocks.  The proposed building is being proposed with 450 plus parking spaces and only 25,000 square feet of ground level retail.  There are no liner units, no other uses, no real program besides parking. 

It is unfortunate that the MPA and Archdiocese feel that the best use for land directly across the street from one of Miami’s oldest churches is to build a massive parking garage placing hundreds of vehicles directly over the city streets and large blank walls facing the church.  It is truly a sad day when our cultural institutions believe that their best contribution to a neighborhood comes in the form of concrete automotive containers. 

Only in autocentric Miami does an important religious institution believe that their best foot forward comes in the form of a parking garage, not in the form of affordable housing, a school, or a real cultural/social institution that adds to the makeup of the city over time.  Religious institutions should be building schools, foundations,  churches, and other institutions that build value over time – they have no business building large parking garages for monetary gain that devalue over time.  Is this all Miami is worth?

Developers and land owners must stop using the MPA as a last resort for development  — the MPA must stop building standalone parking garages under the guise of “mixed use” development in dense urban environments because land owners don’t have the money to develop it themselves.  If the new federal courthouse parking garage being built by the MPA is any indicator — there is no place for standalone parking garages with meager urban gestures and urbanism.  The scale of the building alone will probably be enough to dwarf the church. 

What the MPA must do is work in concert with developers to add a relatively small fraction of parking to a “real” mixed use development that contributes to the social, economic, and cultural makeup of the city.  Parking must not be the reason why a building is constructed — it must be the result of a real urban program.   Large and unsightly parking garages do little to stimulate the sustainable urban qualities of a dense urban environment (especially when the site is steps away from mass transit).  What the MPA must do is provide parking only as part of a larger mixed use package.  The City of Miami must view parking garages as an add on to economic growth, not as the ultimate goal of economic development and creator of jobs.

Large unsightly standalone parking garages provide quick relief and a quick source of revenue — nevertheless they themselves contribute little to nothing in terms of cultural or social value.  They are dependent on additional development to be relevant or maximize potential — a parking garage without attractions or other uses nearby is useless.  

In urban environments, the MPA needs to make sure that future parking garages are integrated in a fashion to ensure that parking component is only a small fraction of a real social, economic, and cultural development — not the driving emphasis or focus of the entire construction project.  Parking garages must be built to accompany development in urban environments — they must not be the reason for development.

Miami-Dade Transit has already proven this can be done in Miami — the joint Overtown/Arena Metrorail project provides public parking as well as transit oriented development, a county building, an office building, and ground level retail. 

Perhaps I am wrong, but in my opinion there is something wrong with our society when (1) religious intitutions are building parking garages for monetary gain and (2) proposed economic development comes in the form of parking garages with little else. 

Related posts:

1. Parking Bay Drive? – Why We Need Miami21
2. The Real Biscayne Wall – Why We Need Miami 21
3. Criticism of New Typology (Tomorrow’s Miami : Part 20)
4. Just Look at WorldCenter – Why We Need Miami21
5. Costs of the Automobile (Tomorrow’s Miami : Part 13)