It could soon be easier to park in downtown Lexington. Here’s where 165 spots will go

Lexington will add 165 parking spaces in its congested downtown, where increasing traffic and a new hotel are putting a premium on parking.

After a publicly testy back-and-forth with members of the Masonic Lodge #152 — a 150-year-old local chapter of a philanthropic organization housed in a building near Main Street — the town and the Masons came to a compromise.

“We went back to the drawing board and figured out a plan that would meet their needs,” said town administrator Britt Poole, who was involved with plans from the start.

At the intersection of N. Church Street and E. Butler Street, the town will create 165 parking spaces. Ten of the spaces will be reserved for Century 21 Vanguard, which is nearby, and 35 other spaces will be leased by the incoming Marriott hotel to meet parking needs. The rest of the spaces will be free and open for public use.

Most of the public spaces — 100 of them — will be on a grassy lot at the site of the former Liverman Hospital. That 7,000-sq. ft. building will be demolished beginning the last week in May. The grassy lot will also serve as overflow parking for downtown attractions, such as the Icehouse Amphitheater.

Poole said the former hospital building has asbestos “everywhere,” so demolishing it was the best option.

“It didn’t have a use going into the future with the amount of mitigation that would have to be done to make it a safe space,” he said.

Lexington’s efforts to establish parking are a big deal in a once sleepy community that today is booming with new growth and, at times, clogged by traffic — including some from lurkers seeking parking spaces.

The parking project, including land purchases, demolition of existing structures, paving and sidewalk work will cost the town an estimated $750,000. Poole said that money will come from the town’s general fund, but the investment will boomerang back in time.

“The parking lot itself will generate that in revenue over the next 20 years” based on lease payments for the hotel spaces, Poole said. And that calculation does not include the economic impact on all of downtown Lexington from having more space for visitors, he said.

Construction on the paved lot will begin by late summer, town spokesperson Jennifer Dowden said, and is expected to last six months.

Leaders in the town of Lexington have worked to make parking space as they carry out plans to revitalize and upgrade the downtown area. In 2018, the town added 130 parking spaces near the Lexington County Municipal Complex on S. Church Street. The amphitheater also has 60 parking spots.

Town officials have discussed the potential need for a parking garage in the future, but there are no plans in the works now, according to Dowden.