Cost to park at Remai Modern going up to pay back loan used to build parkade
The cost of parking under Saskatoon’s Remai Modern art gallery is set to increase, but so are the hours you can park there.
A city council committee on Monday endorsed a move to increase parking rates and hours at the city-owned parkade built along with the gallery.
The ultimate goal of raising more revenue at the $19.5-million parkade is aimed at repaying the $12 million the city borrowed to build it, a City of Saskatoon report says. Revenue from the parkade is also intended to pay for repair and maintenance of the facility and for amenities in the gallery’s atrium.
The loan repayments are set at $376,400 a year, while annual maintenance is estimated at $125,000 and contributions toward atrium amenities are pegged at $220,000 for an annual total of $721,400.
The report, which was endorsed by council’s environment, utilities and corporate services committee, recommends increasing the hours to 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. from the current 7 a.m. to midnight. The report proposes an increase in May to the cost of a monthly parking pass and then another in October.
The increase would hike the cost of a monthly pass to $175 from $150 on May 1 and then to $200 on Oct. 1. The daily rate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. would increase to $10 from $8 on Oct. 1 and the nightly rate from 6 p.m. to midnight would rise on Oct. 1 to $7 from $5.
The hourly rate will remain at $2 to match on-street parking rates. Even with the increases, the monthly rates will remain below market rates for similar underground parkades of $275 to $350, the report says.
The facility, which is the first cityowned parkade, opened in May, although the gallery did not open until late October. Parkade usage increased in October, and $109,000 in revenue was raised during the eight months it was open.
Although the city owns the parkade, customers cannot use the same smartphone app used for on-street parking since a private company operates the parkade, the city’s project manager, Jill Cope, told Monday ’s committee meeting.