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Parking will be plentiful, theater says
New garage has 435 spaces for 50 cents an hour

By ZACHARY STAHL
The Salinas Californian

July 15, 2005.

With the new parking garage on Monterey Street, downtown Salinas has ample parking for moviegoers visiting Maya Cinemas, city and theater officials say.

The 435-space facility was built to accommodate those seeing flicks at the 14-screen theater, which is scheduled to open July 29 on the 100 block of Main Street.

When on- and off-street parking in Oldtown are factored in, Maya Cinemas has far above the theater-industry standard of one parking stall for every five seats, said Frank Haffar, chief operating officer and president of the theater company.

"There definitely will be enough parking," Haffar said.

Under the industry standard, the theater, which will have nearly 2,900 seats, would need about 580 parking spaces. With the new garage and parking lot in front of the National Steinbeck Center, the 100 block of Main Street has 610 parking spaces, city documents show.

The downtown area boasts more than 2,000 parking spots when parking lots at Monterey County buildings are counted.

Maya Cinemas will likely get its own validation machine for the garage that theatergoers will slide their parking ticket through before leaving, said Don Reynolds, Salinas Redevelopment Agency project manager. Validation means theater-goers will get free or reduced-price parking in the garage.

Other Oldtown businesses also will offer parking validation, Reynolds said.

One possible inconvenience for Maya Cinemas visitors is the wait to get out of the garage during a busy night at the theater.

Each motorist will either have to slide a validated ticket into the automated gate or line up to pay the cashier before exiting.

"You are going to have cars waiting at the gate or you have people waiting in the lobby," Reynolds said.
Haffar said the theater will stagger movie times to lessen the exit backup.
Mixture of paid, free parking
The garage will offer free, unlimited parking through the end of this month, followed by up to 90 days of free two-hour parking in the garage. An interim rate of 50 cents an hour with a $4 daily maximum will follow the free period.
Reynolds said Oldtown will have a mixture of paid and free parking in the garage, city lots and on the street once the garage starts charging.

Rates for the 150-space parking lot on Main Street across from the National Steinbeck Center will be $1 an hour with an $8 maximum, starting in August, he said. The rates are interim until a downtown parking management plan is finalized in September.

The Main Street parking lot is eventually destined to become the site of a hotel and condominium complex, if downtown redevelopment plans come to fruition.
After four years of negotiations, the redevelopment agency is still months away from finalizing the sale or lease of the lot to entrepreneur Gerry Kehoe, who has vowed to build a luxury hotel on the site.
If the 14-story hotel gets built, it would require a parking structure for 700 cars at what's now the Greyhound Bus Terminal at Salinas and Gabilan streets.

Meanwhile, parking is free and relatively easy at the 14-screen movie house at Northridge Mall, which is operated by Century Theatres and shares the mall's vast lots.

Haffar said the fact that downtown moviegoers may have to pay for parking won't deter people from coming to Maya Cinemas. The garage is more convenient, safer and easier to reach for parking, and "the rates will be very reasonable," he said.

Luis Alvarez, chairman of the parking committee for the Oldtown Salinas Association, said the garage has become a good place to park for visitors wanting to run more than one errand downtown.

"(The garage) is a place for people to park and visit several different businesses in Oldtown without worrying about whether (their) car tire is getting marked," said Alvarez, referring to the absence of meter maids in the garage.

 

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