State Street parking garage opening delayed, again

Late last month, city officials were confident they had overcome a series of delays that pushed back the opening of the State Street garage, and the structure would be open to the public by July 4.

July 4 came and went, and the State Street parking garage is still under construction. Now, the city believes the garage should be opening sometime during the week of July 20. The most recent delay comes as the city waits for a state inspection of the garage’s elevator, according to city spokeswoman Jan Thornburg.

It’s the latest in a long line of setbacks for the State Street garage project. Per a contract with the developers of Pineapple Square, the garage was supposed to be completed by February 2015. The city spent several months in 2013 going through design revisions, at one point scraping proposals solicited from parties interested in the project’s commercial space due to legal concerns.

The garage was originally supposed to open in phases, with substantial completion targeted for February 2015. That date was pushed back to March, mid-May, late May, mid-June and late June, at which point the city decided to open all levels of the garage at the same time.

That grand opening was supposed to happen July 4, and has now been pushed back another two weeks. Once completed, the garage will provide 395 parking spaces for downtown Sarasota.