The Winchester Street parking garage in downtown Fredericksburg is now open to the public.
According to a press release from the City, the new parking garage on Winchester Street in Downtown Fredericksburg in now available for parking. Fredericksburg has for the past several years been leasing the Barton Street lot located at the corner of Barton and William streets while the nearby garage was planned and built.
Both the Winchester parking garage and the Barton lot are owned by Fredericksburg-based real estate and construction company Vakos Companies.
Now that the Winchester Street garage now open, the city’s lease on the Barton Street lot is being terminated, as has always been planned.
Barton Street lot will no longer be available for public parking starting Monday, November 16. Near-term, it will be used for private construction parking for the nearby Winchester Place and William Square development projects. Vakos also has future plans for a development on the Barton Street property.
While the Barton Street lot will soon close for public parking, the privately funded, 321-space Winchester Street garage is now open for paid public parking. In addition, numerous on-street parking spaces have been added to the William Street corridor in the past couple of months, and additional on-street spaces will be available as part of the forthcoming redevelopment of The Free Lance-Star property.
These two city blocks are being redeveloped into mixed-use projects through about $80 million in investment by Vakos (Garage, Winchester Place and William Square) and Wack General Contractor (Liberty Place).
“Visitors can find ample parking along William Street, and throughout Downtown” stated Fredericksburg Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw in a press release. “Thanks to the new garage, the on-street spaces and the numerous additional surface parking lots along this corridor, it will be easy for visitors to find a space.”
In addition, on the week of November 9 the city will be temporarily rolling out new 15-minute on-street parking signs scattered throughout the William and Caroline Street corridors geared toward curbside pickup.
The City also owns and operates the Sophia Street garage, and offers significant on-street parking throughout Downtown. Since its adopted Parking Action Plan in 2017, Fredericksburg City Council has supported the creation of more than 100 new parking spaces at the University of Mary Washington athletic complex, transitioned spaces on College Avenue to residents, added new street parking on William Street adjacent to the Saint Mary church, and better managed the existing supply of on-street spaces.
For more information on parking in downtown Fredericksburg, visit www.fredericksburgva.gov/744/Parking.
