Plzeň is preparing projects for parking garages, the most advanced is Lochotín

Plzeň - Seventy-thousand-strong Plzeň, which lacks thousands of parking spaces and has been long attempting to push traffic out of the city center, is preparing projects for several parking garages. The city hall has been discussing them for several years now, but so far, not a single construction has been approved. The furthest along in preparations is the largest housing estate, Lochotín, with 50,000 inhabitants. Representatives of the city hall and the first municipal district confirmed this to ČTK.
    "We need thousands of spaces, we are relying on private capital," said Jiří Uhlík, the mayor of the most populated district. There is already one smaller garage in Lochotín, and investors want to build three more next year.
    In the center of Plzeň, the closest to construction is the Rychtářka parking garage near the center, where there is currently free parking. It is scheduled for fall 2009 and should have 800 spaces. "By the end of April, we will select the contractor for the project documentation for the zoning decision, which should be issued within four months," said Deputy Mayor Petr Rund. The construction will cost a quarter of a billion crowns.
    The political leadership of the city hall decided some time ago that all parking garages would be prepared by the city hall in the form of a zoning decision. "Then we will invite an investor and operator in one person. We do not want the city to interfere," added Rund. Besides Rychtářka, no other garage is in preparation.
    In the center of Plzeň, there is a plan for a parking garage on Anglické nábřeží, in the open space in front of Komerční banka, in the Pětatřicátníků park in front of the law school at the site of a paid ground parking lot. Another project is proposed on the open space at U Zvonu, where there is still discussion about a gallery. The city hall, on whose land private individuals will build, wants to offer investors low prices or free parking for the first two to three hours in the contract. All projects, except for Rychtářka, are underground with ground service facilities.
    So far, the only multi-story parking garage in the center for 450 cars has been built by Plaza near its shopping center.
    In Lochotín, another private parking garage, INBA, was created two years ago on Studentská street above the Penny Market with a hundred closed garages that have already been sold. The same investor wants to build another garage for 200 cars on Tachovská street. Another investor is Plzeň-based Engada. They want to build a garage for 500 to 700 vehicles on Studentská street. "They have submitted an application for a zoning decision," said Uhlík. Engada, formerly CEFDA, also plans another garage. However, the district council wants to see their first construction.
    According to Mayor Pavel Rödl, the city hall wants to remove all 2,500 parking spaces from the streets near the square. It would also welcome better utilization of the large parking lot above the main train station, which the city has long leased. The area has poor connectivity.