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Former downtown parking garage set for demolition

More than a year and a half after it abruptly closed, the owners of the multi-level parking garage on Cedar Street say the structure should come down soon.
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More than a year-and-a-half after it abruptly closed, the owners of the multi-level parking garage on Cedar Street say the structure should come down soon. Photo by Darren MacDonald.
More than a year and a half after it abruptly closed, the owners of the multi-level parking garage on Cedar Street say the structure should come down soon.

Paul D'Aloisio said difficulties getting the demolition permit slowed the process considerably. The family had hoped to take the structure down last summer, and replace it with a ground-level lot that could hold 45-50 parking spaces.

"It's close to getting torn down," D'Aloisio said Thursday. "Once we get the permits, there's a two-week notice period. And so it would start shortly thereafter."

Erring on the side of caution, they closed the structure in January 2014 after a structural inspection raised some concerns. That also forced the temporary closure of the Sudbury Sapporo Ichibang restaurant, which had operated in the building for the last 10 years. The business ended up moving into a renovated site farther up on Cedar Street, and reopened last November.

The owners had planned on demolishing the structure last summer, but D'Aloisio said getting a permit to do so has taken a long time.

"This has been taking so long with the city,” he said. “There's not enough parking to begin with downtown, and here's another 40 or 50 spots that can be put back into the system.

"I know the demolition guy wants to get moving as quickly as possible ... I would like to do it this summer, yes. I think we're just about there."

City spokesperson Shannon Dowling said Thursday no one was available to speak about the garage until next week.

The former garage had 113 spots. In a previous interview, D'Aloisio said they had considered building a new multi-level structure, considering the demand for parking downtown. However, the cost of building such a structure was prohibitive.

A $7.5-million, 250-spot parking structure is part of Greater Sudbury's Downtown Master Plan, but the city has been unable to find a private-sector partner willing to build and run it, for the same reason.

A study completed in 2011 found the city had 1,570 parking spaces downtown, while the private sector had 1,920. Demand is expected to increase by 12-13 per cent over the next 10 years, or by 300-800 spots.

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Darren MacDonald

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