This development consists of 1,057 precast concrete pieces being erected over the course of 20 weeks. The design includes cast-in-place concrete footings, and the entire rest of the structure is precast pieces.
The parking garage has a brick façade with concrete accents, that includes both a running bond and Flemish bond style of brick. The running bond gives a more classic look, while the Flemish bond pays homage to many of the existing and original buildings here on grounds at the University.
The garage was designed as a part of a larger development within the Fontaine Research Park including a new biotechnology building, a new energy plan, a redesign of the park entrance, and other future projects. The parking garage will serve the UVA Health Systems staff that works within the park and at UVA Hospital.
There are 7 tiers, one below ground and 6 at and above, 1,250 parking spaces, 4 elevators, 2 stairways, 13 installed EV charging stations, and an access-controlled bike parking area. As a part of the design there was also consideration of future infrastructure including the capacity for 12 additional EV charging stations and a solar panel canopy.
The project began with the removal of an existing parking lot and soon moved into blasting. The footprint of the parking garage included large areas of very hard rock, sometimes called blue stone, that needed to be removed to set the building foundations. Because this rock is so hard it would have taken an army of breakers almost a year to remove all the rock. Instead of hammering for a year the University allowed our team to use explosives to blast the rock to make removal much easier. This process was planned in close coordination with the University, local and state police, the local fire department and VDOT. The planning process took about 3 months and blasting lasted from May 29th to June 26th. Since the completion of blasting, all the cast-in-place foundations have been placed and about 75% of the precast pieces have been set.
Scheduled completion of November 2025.
