Temporary Parking Lot Constructed, Future Site of Improved Outdoor Green Area Planned

Colorado State University’s lawn west of the Lory Student Center near the corner of Plum Drive and Meridian Avenue will undergo a transformation to build an amphitheatre for the university community’s use, as well as an enhanced outdoor area for students and staff to enjoy.

The area was slated for future excavation to build a landscape, including a bowl-shaped amphitheatre to will help divert and address potential flood water runoff, making it a logical place for the temporary parking lot during increased construction on campus.

In the interim, the area will serve students and staff as a temporary parking lot, taking pressure off of what would be limited parking on the north end of campus while several buildings are being constructed over existing lots. The temporary lot will be opened by August 15 to address parking demand in time for the beginning of the school year. The lot will add 165 spaces during its service to the university.

The temporary lot will serve students and staff to compensate for lost parking spaces in current lots impacted by an expansion to Rockwell Hall, a new Indoor Athletics Training Facility and an addition to the Music Building. The Rockwell Hall expansion will cause the loss of about 55 parking spaces from the lot just east of the current building. The athletics facility will impact 35 spaces in the lot north of the Student Recreation Center, although at different stages of construction more spaces will be impacted. The Music Building expansion will impact an additional 30 spaces west of the building.

Other additions to campus underway this fall include the Academic Instruction Building, which is going up south of the Clark Building in a current parking lot; a new residence hall east of the Academic Village, which will only temporarily displace parking for construction staging; and a new parking garage on the corner of Lake Street and Center Avenue. The parking garage will add about 860 to 890 new spaces to campus.

Until the garage is completed to alleviate pressures on parking, the temporary lot at Meridian and Plum will provide options. In addition, the university’s Parking Services department has done a survey of parking demands on campus and has determined that empty spaces will likely be available in surrounding, existing lots.

Each new building on campus will greatly enhance the university’s learning, teaching and research environment with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.

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