Jefferson City Council to consider $35 million in bonds for new downtown parking garage

The Jefferson City Council will introduce a bill and vote on a resolution related to a new downtown parking garage at its meeting Monday.

The council is scheduled to introduce a bill authorizing the sale of $35 million in bonds to finance a new parking garage at the corner of Madison Street and East Capitol Avenue.

The garage will replace the former Madison Street garage, which closed in 2024 and was demolished in 2025 because of deterioration. The new garage is estimated to be completed in early 2028, according to city documents.

The city is also planning a new conference center and hotel on the same lot as the garage.

The City Council hired Garfield Public/Private LLC to oversee the conference center project. According to developer documents, the garage would have 567 parking spaces. The hotel would have 215 rooms, and the conference center would have about 30,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

The total cost of the conference center, hotel and garage project is estimated at $145 million. Most of the funding will come from bonds repaid through revenue from the new hotel, the city’s 7% lodging tax and public parking, according to documents from the developer.

The council also will vote on a resolution reserving 100 of the 567 garage spaces for the state government.

In September, the council accepted $15 million from the state for a new downtown Jefferson City garage through a consent agenda item. The money was conditional on reserving those parking spacer for the state.

The parking spaces would be reserved for the state Office of Administration and could not be sublet to other parties. The $15 million must be spent by June 10, 2027, according to the consent agenda item.

The city could use the 100 spaces “during weekdays outside of normal State business hours and on weekends,” according to the proposed parking agreement with the state.

The Jefferson City Council meets at 6 p.m. in Jefferson City Hall.