City of Columbia parking garages in ‘good’ condition; report recommends removal of ‘potentially loose concrete’ at Sixth and Cherry Garage

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

In wake of a New York City parking garage collapsing on Tuesday afternoon, which left one dead, five injured and hundreds of cars destroyed, the ABC 17 News Team dug into what the City of Columbia does to keep up with their parking buildings. 

The City of Columbia owns and operates six parking garages Downtown:

• Tenth and Cherry Garage
• Sixth and Cherry Garage
• Fifth and Walnut Garage
• Eighth and Cherry Garage
• Short Street Garage (1110 East Walnut Street)
• Plaza Garage (17 North Eighth Street)

Each garage is inspected once every six years by a professional consulting and engineering firm. The city's goal is to have one garage inspected every year. 

The latest inspections occurred in 2022, with the inspection report dated Jan. 30, 2023. Engineers with Walker Consultants inspected three garages -- Sixth and Cherry, Short Street, and Eighth and Cherry --and categorized all three in “good condition.”

However, they did recommend some minor repairs. 

The Sixth and Cherry Garage immediate action items include: Removal of potentially loose concrete from the facade, install a supplemental facade bearing panel support and repair a few stair tower guardrail attachments.

Short Street Garage immediate action items include: Implement barrier cables repairs, remove loose
facade brick, and replace missing and/or damaged fire extinguishers.

The parking garage at Eighth and Cherry did not have any immediate action items listed.

You can read the full inspection report below: 

"The recommendations Walker Consults gave to us is part of normal planned maintenance and shouldn’t be seen as anything out of the ordinary," John Ogan, a spokesman for Columbia Public Works, said. 

Ogan also said the city washes the garages once a year to maintain them. Following each washdown, the staff visually inspects parking garages to see if issues are present. It serves as another way to look for obvious defects.

“We prefer and do very well at making things maintenance rather than fixing things once they become a problem, Ogan said. “We are very vigilant about checking parking garages about opportunities for repair.”

Meanwhile in Jefferson City, two garages are set to receive repairs this year. The bulk of the work will be on the Jefferson Street parking deck, while the Madison Street garage will receive some minor repairs.