A university press release and two small signs linked to a fence along Perry Street announced the partial debut of Virginia Tech’s first parking garage Monday.
According to Parking Services manager Richard McCoy, about 800 of the garage’s spaces were available Monday, with three out of five bays complete on all five of the garage’s levels. McCoy said the garage will hold about 1,300 spots when construction on all five bays is finished.
With 402 spots lost in the construction of the parking garage, Monday’s opening netted Tech approximately 400 additional spots.
Despite Monday’s opening, many drivers appeared to be unaware that the garage was open. Most of the second floor, where faculty and staff can park, remained empty.
Large portions of the third, fourth and fifth floors, where graduate students and commuter pass holders can park, stood empty around 1:30 p.m. Monday. The fifth floor held only two cars.
Chris Setzer, a senior civil engineering major, found out the garage was open only after driving through a neighboring lot and not finding any open spots.
“If it’s as open as it was this morning, I’m going to park here more often,” Setzer said.
McCoy said he saw several people circling parking lots surrounding the garage Monday morning, a problem he said would diminish over time.
“Once people get used to using it, they won’t continue circling around surface lots,” McCoy said. “They’ll just go there for parking.”
“This really doesn’t need advertising,” said Joseph Kaiser, a sophomore.
Construction is expected to finish in early October.