HUNTINGTON - Marshall President Dan Angel and the MU Board of Governors
celebrated the early completion of the university's new parking facility
with a dedication ceremony Wednesday morning.
The ceremony, which took place on the Cam Henderson Center side of the new
pedestrian walkway connecting the parking facility to Cam Henderson Center,
came less than a year after the project's groundbreaking. Early estimations
called for the job to be completed by January or February next year.
The six-level, 1,009-space parking facility is located between 18th and 19th
streets and Third Avenue and features 20 handicapped parking spaces, 55
spaces for compact automobiles, and elevators on the east and west sides of
the garage.
The lead contractor for the project was BBL Carlton of Charleston, W.Va.
Four other firms from Charleston and one from Nitro also were involved in
the construction.
Marshall Vice President for Operations Ed Grose said the university has been
working for a number of years to resolve the parking problem with a garage.
Finally, this problem has been resolved.
"Building this facility required cooperation among many different people,
from our Board of Governors to Gov. Bob Wise," Grose said. "Our record
enrollment created the need for additional parking and we couldn't be more
pleased with this new facility, which will accommodate that growth."
Marshall financed the project with proceeds from the sale of bonds, which
will be paid back from housing and parking revenues. So far, 1,089 permits
have been sold. Marshall Police Chief Jim Terry said the facility will be
sold to capacity when 1,200 permits are sold. It is the national standard to
sell 1.4 percent more permits than available spaces because all the permit
holders likely will not be in the garage at one time. Marshall's standard it
to sell 1.2 percent more permits than spaces.