Construction crews were busy pouring concrete foundation footings for the four-story downtown parking garage this week.
The project—which consists of 270-plus parking spaces to serve downtown residents and future visitors—is on schedule and expected to be completed by November, according to Assistant City Manager Leslie Little.
The $8.6-million construction contract with F&H Construction is funded by leftover Redevelopment Agency bond proceeds. The city purchased the property for the garage last year for $2.1 million from developer Rocke Garcia.
The project is located between Third and Fourth streets, behind Huntington Station, Trail Dust and Toto Trattoria restaurants.
The contract also includes about $425,000 worth of public art to be created by Napa artist Gordon Huether. These include a 20-feet-by-12-feet glass depiction of poppy jasper, a mineral found only in Morgan Hill, and a 12-foot sculpture of a tarantula spider made of vintage automobile headlights.
In response to community input, including outrage over the spider sculpture, Huether changed the design of that piece in recent weeks in order to more closely resemble a furry tarantula, Little said. The spiders are indigenous to the Central Coast and are seen throughout Morgan Hill in the fall.
The garage project also includes about 4,000 square feet of retail and commercial space on the side facing Third Street, which will also feature a public plaza of benches, tables and wide walkways underneath a sprawling oak tree just outside the parking structure.
The entrance and exit for vehicles to the structure will be on Fourth Street.
