Counting down the worst places to park in downtown Columbia

It took several circles around Main Street blocks before Angie Kelly found a parking space on her way to meet Donielle Collins for an after-work jazz show.

“It’s always hectic down here to try to find parking,” Collins said, as the two walked several blocks from their cars to the show at the Agape Conference Center on a recent evening.

If there’s one thing most Columbians have complained about at some point, it’s parking in and around downtown. Well, there are complaints about taxes and politics and the weather, but mostly, about parking.

You might blame it on growing pains. Downtown Columbia is livelier than ever, and that’s a good thing. But when the city grows up, you just can’t park the buggy in front of the store anymore.

When it comes to growth and vitality, “if we have difficulty finding parking spaces, I guess that’s a good thing for the community,” city parking services director Elle Matney said.

Complain though we might, there are nearly 5,000 parking spaces (some are rented, yes) in eight city-owned garages downtown, plus hourly and metered parking in several University of South Carolina garages.

“On Saturdays, you might not even find a spot in a garage,” said Dan Stewart, who frequently visits the Main Street district for the Soda City market, dining, movies at the Nickelodeon and haircuts at King’s Barber Shop.

But “there are no bad places to park in Columbia if you’re willing to walk a block or two,” said John Spade, the city’s former longtime parking director.

The takeaway here?

Parking garages are a thing. So are public transportation and ride-sharing. And your feet. It’s time to get used to them.

But according to our unscientific survey, these places are worth complaining about. From least-worst to most-worst places to try to park in the downtown area:

10. The Five Points Post Office – Customers here are so loyal, and they all tend to come around lunchtime and just before the 4:30 p.m. closing time. That can overwhelm this little parking lot. The good news: Five Points has an abundance of street parking, especially during the daytime.

9. Lincoln Street in the Vista (between Starbucks and Blue Marlin) – It’s awesome when you can find a spot here. But more often than not, you get stuck behind someone who has been waiting 10 minutes for someone else to pull out of their parking space, blissfully backing up traffic behind them down Lincoln and onto Gervais Street. Rude! Dangerous! Occasional utility work and frequent delivery truck stops don’t help matters.

8. West End Alley in the Vista – Home to Tin Lizzy’s, Dueling Keys piano bar, Tsunami and Vista Union. First you think, “Yay! A parking lot!” And then you think, “Darn! Half these spaces are reserved!” This lot can be deceptive in the daytime. But on the upside, the reserved spaces are up for grabs in the evenings and the majority of the weekend.

7. The Vista Publix and Trustus Theatre – The after-work grocery rush can leave you circling the tightly packed Publix lot until you’re mad and dizzy. And if you have tickets for a show next door at Trustus, you’ve got no choice but street parking (which is free at night but hard to find) or some lots or garages a fairly short walk away.

6. Food Lion shopping center in Five Points – This lot is plain bassackward, if you know what we mean. It seems as if the spaces are turned the wrong way. Plus, it’s slightly cramped. And the lot is sometimes too dark.

5. Trader Joe’s in Forest Acres – OK, not technically downtown, but lots of downtowners shop here. (We neeeeed the cookie butter!) Trader Joe’s stores are notorious for their seemingly too-small parking lots. Forest Acres’ location is no exception, unless you shop in the middle of a weekday. But here, there’s the added hazard of pulling out onto a busy, multi-lane Forest Drive with no traffic light.

4. Green’s liquor store and California Dreaming restaurant – Can we all just say, “UGH”? Besides being typically overcrowded at lunch and dinner times – it’s the price of popularity – the Assembly Street entry/exit point for Green’s will make you need a drink, particularly if you come around 5 or 6 o’clock on a Friday or Saturday evening.

3. The West Columbia riverwalk and State Street – When the riverwalk reopens in a few weeks, the old dirt-and-gravel lot at the new Brookland development site will be sorely missed. The Brookland construction took away “the pit,” where many a State Street patron also used to park in the evenings. The city of West Columbia has bought some land for public parking nearby, though.

2. Almost anywhere at USC – Any arguments? But give credit to there being multiple parking garages open to visitors as well as students and staff.

1. Malfunction Junction at rush hour – Ha! See what we did there? But really. Is there a “parking lot” we all hate more than Interstate 26 at going-to-work and coming-home times? You can’t top it.

Honorable mentions:

A lot of people have parking gripes about these places. But there are reasonable parking options nearby.

Koger Center in the Vista – The perfect parking storm is a show at the Koger Center at the same time as a basketball game at Colonial Life Arena. There is a city garage and a USC garage with public parking, both within walking distance. Yep, you’ll have to pay. But would you rather circle the Vista for an hour and miss the ballet?

Main Street – It’s a lot harder than it used to be to pop in somewhere for a quick lunch or midday errand. But don’t say there’s nowhere to park: There are five city parking garages in the Main Street corridor between the State House and Taylor Street. Plus, there’s free two-hour parking in the 1600 block if you’re lucky enough to snag a space.

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 11:28 AM with the headline "Counting down the worst places to park in downtown Columbia."