La Crosse to spend $600,000 on parking designer

Parking ramp expansion could cost $6 million 

The La Crosse Board of Public Works could be bringing in a design consultant at a $600,000 price tag.

The board, today, agreed to hire a design consultant to prepare an addition to the Riverside Center parking ramp, just south of the La Crosse Center.

The plan is to build two new levels. That cost is estimated around $6 million. Those levels would add 100s of parking spaces, as a hotel is being built down the street. The ramp was built by Weber Holdings a few years ago, then turned over to the city.

Along with the spending, the two of the three downtown ramps are actually ahead of schedule when it comes to revenue for 2015.

So far this year, the city parking utility has collected $101,000 in hourly fees at ticket stations.  The three ramps have collected $11,000 this month and are $8,000 from the 2015 goal. The Market Square and Main Street ramps have already have made more money from the ticket gates than the city predicted.

The city even lost out on some potential revenue this month by letting people park free in the Main Street ramp during Oktoberfest.