Project 766 - Employee Parking Garage

[Thor]

I think whatever it will become, it's probably gonna remain backstage stuff. Maybe offices, storage, or just overflow parking from what won't fit in the garage

Yea you and Tyler are probably right with the rest of the parking lot remaining back stage stuff.

 

[Con]

Hey Everyone - First post.. So let's recap this whole thing.. Sorry to get technical.

They are definitely constructing a building in the "basin a" area (the boundaries in the map posted earlier)
They are definitely swapping out around 6 acres of asphalt for some sort of building.
The only area where you can find 5.8-7.5 contiguous acres of asphalt is in the employee parking lot.
The permit discusses turkey lake road (employee entrance) and not 1000 universal studios plaza as well as a previously approved parking lot permit.

But why does the director of attractions at universal sign the permit? and why does abdul akubary of harris civil engineers (the one person who always applies for attraction permitting) submit it?

Here's my theory. Universal is dealing with three issues-
1- An ever increasing amount of employees due to the recent success of new attractions and increased attendance.
2- A general lack of space on property for significant expansion in the future.
3- (here's the most important one), an existing agreement (through permitting) of the amount of impervious (buildings/asphalt but not grass or water)space they can develop on property..

So, say you're a vice president at Comcast, who has just been earmarked a billion or so to spend on new attractions and capital expansion but you can't don't have much room. You build a 5 level parking garage,and destroy the existing asphalt that isn't part of the garage (providing the team members with a better parking experience and making the land outside of the garage pervious ,satisfying the needs of the water management district.) So after you build your garage and destroy the exterior asphalt , you have an additional 12 acres to build on any previously pervious land (just like the area next to jurassic park).

 

[Andy]

Hey Everyone - First post.. So let's recap this whole thing.. Sorry to get technical.

They are definitely constructing a building in the "basin a" area (the boundaries in the map posted earlier)
They are definitely swapping out around 6 acres of asphalt for some sort of building.
The only area where you can find 5.8-7.5 contiguous acres of asphalt is in the employee parking lot.
The permit discusses turkey lake road (employee entrance) and not 1000 universal studios plaza as well as a previously approved parking lot permit.

But why does the director of attractions at universal sign the permit? and why does abdul akubary of harris civil engineers (the one person who always applies for attraction permitting) submit it?

Here's my theory. Universal is dealing with three issues-
1- An ever increasing amount of employees due to the recent success of new attractions and increased attendance.
2- A general lack of space on property for significant expansion in the future.
3- (here's the most important one), an existing agreement (through permitting) of the amount of impervious (buildings/asphalt but not grass or water)space they can develop on property..

So, say you're a vice president at Comcast, who has just been earmarked a billion or so to spend on new attractions and capital expansion but you can't don't have much room. You build a 5 level parking garage,and destroy the existing asphalt that isn't part of the garage (providing the team members with a better parking experience and making the land outside of the garage pervious ,satisfying the needs of the water management district.) So after you build your garage and destroy the exterior asphalt , you have an additional 12 acres to build on any previously pervious land (just like the area next to jurassic park).

I like your thinking :wave:

 

[blue180]

also, didn't I read somewhere in general that they could add more levels to the existing large parking garages?

 

[TylerDurden]

also, didn't I read somewhere in general that they could add more levels to the existing large parking garages?

yes, but we are talking TM parking...you cant just shut down their only parking to add more levels, or you screw all the people who run your park in one fell swoop. IMO, this garage has to be it, and they should make it bigger than necessary.

Con has a great first post, and one that definitely makes sense. But this specific project most likely wont involve any attractions (I would say 100% sure it wont but you never know these days).

 

[wreck]

yes, but we are talking TM parking...you cant just shut down their only parking to add more levels, or you screw all the people who run your park in one fell swoop. IMO, this garage has to be it, and they should make it bigger than necessary.

Con has a great first post, and one that definitely makes sense. But this specific project most likely wont involve any attractions (I would say 100% sure it wont but you never know these days).

I agree they should make the employee parking bigger than necessary but the height could be a issue and the return of value on the reclaimed impervious land gets figured in somewhere.

Con's post is dead on , a great first and deserves big reps and you are missing his point.
It does involve future attractions but in a indirect way. Building the parking garage puts all the parking spots on a smaller footprint of impervious land. They are then able to remove the excess impervious asphalt (old parking lot) making that area now pervious land. That move will allow Universal to take existing pervious land in other areas (JP) and make it impervious land for use as attractions , walkways and the like.

 

[Teebin]

A parking garage is certainly going to encourage employees to arrive early, just to park their car on one of the lower levels in the shade. I always hate it when guest parking is on the roof when I arrive.

 

[Nitro_230]

I agree they should make the employee parking bigger than necessary but the height could be a issue and the return of value on the reclaimed impervious land gets figured in somewhere.

Con's post is dead on , a great first and deserves big reps and you are missing his point.
It does involve future attractions but in a indirect way. Building the parking garage puts all the parking spots on a smaller footprint of impervious land. They are then able to remove the excess impervious asphalt (old parking lot) making that area now pervious land. That move will allow Universal to take existing pervious land in other areas (JP) and make it impervious land for use as attractions , walkways and the like.

It removes impervious surface in that basin, and since they didn't propose removing much asphalt they aren't building on the savings will be something like .22 acres

 

[natespf]

It removes impervious surface in that basin, and since they didn't propose removing much asphalt they aren't building on the savings will be something like .22 acres

This does not say anything about what could be done with the land not being touched. If there are going to be other buildings, the removal of impervious surface would be included with their respective proposals. It is much easier to get approval if you are removing impervious surfaces, or if it would remain relatively the same. So for example if they remove extra impervious surface and try to add a building in later on, it would be adding to the impervious surface at that point.

That is also not to say that other uses than parking could already be included in the proposed footprint. For example using a small corner of the bottom floor for offices, costuming, etc. I am not saying definitely yes, but with the information available I would not say for sure no.

But I do not know how tall this thing is going to be. If they are only adding 1 level it may only be to increase parking capacity, but if it ends up being like 3 or 4 stories tall there is defiantly going to be some space freed up. With the space issues they have, I just find it logical for this to be just part of a larger plan to better organize the backstage facilities. And I got to go back to all of the expansion plots currently being used for storage. We know the storage at JP and Seuss will be gone soon, and next to MiB should be expanded not that far out either.

 

[TylerDurden]

I agree they should make the employee parking bigger than necessary but the height could be a issue and the return of value on the reclaimed impervious land gets figured in somewhere.

Con's post is dead on , a great first and deserves big reps and you are missing his point.
It does involve future attractions but in a indirect way. Building the parking garage puts all the parking spots on a smaller footprint of impervious land. They are then able to remove the excess impervious asphalt (old parking lot) making that area now pervious land. That move will allow Universal to take existing pervious land in other areas (JP) and make it impervious land for use as attractions , walkways and the like.

The *point* of this project is to improve the TM parking situation, end of story. It has been an issue for a long time, and with Cabana Bay taking the place of former TM overflow parking, PLUS new expansions, the parking situation needs to be fixed. We can look more into it later, but theyre not consolidating parking so they can add a ride. It may be a perk down the road, but its not their main motivation right now.

 

[Nitro_230]

This does not say anything about what could be done with the land not being touched. If there are going to be other buildings, the removal of impervious surface would be included with their respective proposals. It is much easier to get approval if you are removing impervious surfaces, or if it would remain relatively the same. So for example if they remove extra impervious surface and try to add a building in later on, it would be adding to the impervious surface at that point.

That is also not to say that other uses than parking could already be included in the proposed footprint. For example using a small corner of the bottom floor for offices, costuming, etc. I am not saying definitely yes, but with the information available I would not say for sure no.

But I do not know how tall this thing is going to be. If they are only adding 1 level it may only be to increase parking capacity, but if it ends up being like 3 or 4 stories tall there is defiantly going to be some space freed up. With the space issues they have, I just find it logical for this to be just part of a larger plan to better organize the backstage facilities. And I got to go back to all of the expansion plots currently being used for storage. We know the storage at JP and Seuss will be gone soon, and next to MiB should be expanded not that far out either.

It is true that it's easier to swap impervious surface then give some back now and ask for it later. But at the moment that's not what their worried about. See below.

The *point* of this project is to improve the TM parking situation, end of story. It has been an issue for a long time, and with Cabana Bay taking the place of former TM overflow parking, PLUS new expansions, the parking situation needs to be fixed. We can look more into it later, but theyre not consolidating parking so they can add a ride. It may be a perk down the road, but its not their main motivation right now.

:thumbs:

 

[ParkRumors]

Thanks to a recent FAA OE/AAA filing, we now know this garage will be 4 stories tall and construction will last around 9 months, with an estimated completion date of July 2014.

Link to filing:
https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/searchAction.jsp?action=displayOECase&oeCaseID=197762331

 

[Teebin]

Thanks PR! So, they are getting roughly 20 acres of parking out of 5 acres. Very nice. I cannot wait to see diagrams of exactly how this will be placed on the current lot.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Awesomely. We should see construction around NovemberDecemberb

 

[ParkRumors]

A bit more information about the garage, for whoever might still be following this project:

 

[Teebin]

^ "For confidentiality purpose"... what a laugh, on multiple fronts.

 

[Felipe]

Thanks, ParkRumors! :thumbs:

^ "For confidentiality purpose"... what a laugh, on multiple fronts.

That made me when I read it


BTW, does anyone know how many parking spots are in the current TM parking lot?

 

[Nick]

I couldn't tell you how many park spots there currently are, but that parking lot is pretty damn big and still is consistently packed.

 

[TylerDurden]

I couldn't tell you how many park spots there currently are, but that parking lot is pretty damn big and still is consistently packed.

And that doesn't include the employees who park at Citywalk.

 

[Teebin]

...is pretty damn big and still is consistently packed.

So is the bagboy at the local grocery, but that is another story.

(based on a joke once offered on David Letterman way way back when he was on NBC!) :stunned: