Parking Lot H on the northeast corner of Summit and Cretin avenues will close forever at 5 a.m. Friday, April 30, to allow preparation for the construction of Anderson Student Center.
The lot has existed in various sizes since the opening of O’Shaughnessy Hall in 1940, but has had reduced parking since last June, when construction began on the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. Until that time, the lot could accommodate 402 cars.
Early Friday, crews from Opus Northwest will use concrete barricades to block the Cretin entrance to Lot H near the fence for the athletic and recreation center job site. Vehicles also will not be allowed to enter the lot from Summit, but exit access will be provided for vehicles remaining in the lot after it is closed. As soon as the lot is clear, the Summit entrance will be blocked off.
Public Safety has placed an electronic sign on Cretin notifying motorists of the closing so no one attempts to turn into Lot H on Friday. The only vehicles allowed into Lot H from Cretin beginning Friday will be for construction purposes.
Commuter students who now park in Lot H will need to make alternative plans. Their permits are valid in the Anderson Parking Facility and Lots M, N and O on the south campus, Lots A and C on the main campus, and Lots I and K on the block bounded by Summit, Cleveland, Grand and Finn.
Nonpermit parking also is available in the Anderson Parking Facility and the Morrison Hall ramp – at a cost of $1.50 an hour before 4 p.m. and $1 an hour after 4 – and at parking meters in Lots M, N and O on the south campus and Lot G on the main campus.
With the closing of Lot H, Opus crews will begin on Monday, May 3, to install a construction fence, remove trees and mobilize equipment in preparation for construction of the student center.
The earliest the city of St. Paul can issue construction permits is May 4, the expiration date of a 10-day period for appeals of the April 23 Planning Commission approval of site and parking plans for the project. If an appeal is filed by May 3, the issues in question will be referred to the City Council for a public hearing in mid to late May, and permits would not be granted until after the council resolved the matter.
The $66 million, 225,00-square-foot student center is scheduled to open in January 2012 and is named after St. Thomas trustee Lee Anderson and his wife Penny. They made a $60 million gift for the student center as well as the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, which will open in early August, and the Anderson Parking Facility. It opened in February 2009.
... and in January 2012, Parking Lot H will look something like this: the Anderson Student Center. This conceptual view is looking northeast from Cretin and Summit avenues.