Federal Stimulus: Revere Parking Garage

Governor Deval Patrick joined Congressman Ed Markey, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Mayor Tom Ambrosino today in announcing the Wonderland parking garage project in Revere is moving forward with federal stimulus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds along with MBTA bond revenue financing.

The funding plan gives the green light to begin construction in 2010 of the planned $47 million, 9-story, 1,900 space South Garage Parking Facility at the T's Wonderland Station on the Blue Line that will support Waterfront Square, left, a critical smart growth and transit-oriented development project.

The garage will improve access to the T and is a key phase one component of Waterfront Square, a planned mixed-use community of 902 residential units, 145,500 square feet of office space, a 100-room hotel and 28,000 square feet of retail space. Waterfront Square will create an estimated nearly 700 permanent jobs, with the parking garage creating an estimated 500 construction jobs.

The MassDOT Board last week authorized the $22.7 million award of federal stimulus ARRA funds and $11.3 million in MBTA bond revenue financing toward the project. The additional funds supplement federal and state funding previously allocated.  Financial analysis indicates that parking revenues from the new garage will exceed the cost of the MBTA's borrowing and in fact will generate additional net revenues.