The parking garage will provide much-needed parking for not only movie theater patrons (primarily nighttime and weekend users), but also Twin Towers Churchgoers on Sunday morning, City Hall and School District visitors and employees during the day, and business district shoppers during all hours of the week.

The parking garage will be a 350-space public parking garage located adjacent to the new Cineplex on the remaining portion of the Video Maniacs site and the Alameda Theater parking lot along Oak Street between Central and Santa Clara Avenues.

Much consideration has been given to its scale and design. Recent revisions to the façade include reduction of scale and bulk, greater evocation of Art Deco style, additional vertical articulation, greater design consistency and symmetry, as well as greater articulation of blank surfaces. The top floor of the garage has been set back approximately 18 feet to reduce the overall massing of the structure. Additionally, the elevator tower that rises above roof level was set back from the façade of the garage behind the stair tower. The Oak Street façade of the garage is visually divided into four stories, also helping to diminish the scale of an actual six-story garage. Lastly, openings were placed along the northern wall of the Santa Clara Elevation of the garage to further address concerns about the closed, blankness of this elevation. The public art project proposed as a vinyl panel is still proposed for the shear wall along this elevation.

Garage elevation. Click on image for a large version

The garage will be owned and operated by the City as a public facility. The parking rate will be the same as on-street parking at $0.50 per hour during the daytime and free in the evenings (after 5:00 p.m.) and on Sundays.

Alameda Entertainment Associates, the theater operator, will provide three-hour validated parking to customers during the workday and on Saturdays before 5:00 p.m.

The garage will provide 24 bike racks and 16 bike lockers, accommodating bicycle parking for a total of 40 bikes. In addition, a Class III bicycle route, featuring bike route signs and shared roadway pavement stencils (also known as "sharrows"), will be provided from Encinal to Lincoln Avenues along Oak Street. Additional measures to mitigate bike and pedestrian safety issues are described under the traffic impact section.