City seeks company to redevelop city hall parking lot into mixed-use development

The City of El Paso is looking for a company to turn the City’s parking lot in front of city hall into a mixed-use development.

“Companies who are looking to invest in a place want to know that if they come to a place that if they come, they’ll have infrastructure suitable for their operations,” said Rolando Pablos, the CEO of the Borderplex Alliance which works with the City to lure potential employers to El Paso.

The City wants the site to include a parking garage with a minimum of 500 spaces and a building with residential units, retail, and/or restaurants. City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said downtown property and business owners have expressed concern there’s not enough parking downtown.

He said a public-private partnership would offset the costs of a parking garage. Parking facilities are often not lucrative. “If you go public, it typically doesn’t make money, when you go public-private, you tend to recover your costs because there are multiple uses. So that’s the key to a parking garage being successful – utilizing it for the private purpose as well,” said Gonzalez.

According to the request for proposal (RFP), the site is approximately 67,600 square feet (1.55 acres) and is currently used for surface parking.

The RFP goes on to state that the full block of Campbell Street from Mills to Main Street is located in El Paso’s Downtown tax increment reinvestment zone.

The City requires 500 to 700 parking spaces for municipal use. Parking required for the private portion of the development should be included in addition to the City required spaces, according to the RFP.

“Development opportunities for the Site include, but are not limited to: residential units (for sale or rent), hotel project, ground floor retail, and/or restaurant(s). The City desires a high density project with an urban format that is architecturally significant and unique,” the RFP states.

Initial proposals are due December 7th.