Oneida County has released renderings and the site plan for the proposed Wynn Hospital parking garage in downtown Utica, but an assortment of delays will cause the structure to open several months after the hospital, causing parking issues of its own. 

According to information provided by the county, Wynn Hospital is expected to open in October 2023, but the parking garage will not be finished until March 2024. 

“It was always the intent … that the garage would open at the same time [as the hospital],” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said during a press conference highlighting the garage plans. 

Picente was flanked by Mohawk Valley Health System President/CEO Darlene Stromstad during the Thursday reveal. 

Stromstad said the hospital system was already looking into plans on dealing with the roughly five-month span of parking issues the new hospital employees will face.  

Other downtown parking areas and possibly shuttling employees from other hospital system-owned areas are in the mix. 

“More to come on that,” Stromstad said. “It’s still months away.” 

Plans are for the parking garage to be located at Oriskany, Lafayette and Cornelia streets. All properties within the proposed footprint were acquired by the county, following eminent domain lawsuits.   

The five-level Oneida County parking facility will accommodate 1,330 vehicles, with approximately 1,050 spots being dedicated to the needs of the hospital and 280 available for general public use, according to the county’s unveiling Thursday. 

Stromstad said the hospital system would lease the parking spots from the county and Picente said there would be a cost for the general public to utilize the garage. Neither provided any numbers. 

The ground floor, along with roughly half of the second floor, will offer public parking to those visiting the hospital or other downtown destinations. A portion of the ground floor will also be reserved for visitors to the emergency room.  

The remainder of the second floor, as well as all parking on the third, fourth and fifth floors, will be dedicated to hospital staff parking. 

Included in the 1,330 parking spaces are 45 parking spaces accessible to those with disabilities and 69 electric vehicle charging spaces, according to the county.  

The building’s electrical service is sized to accommodate a capacity of 280 EV charging stations in the future. 

The parking garage will contain five elevators located strategically to serve both the hospital's main and emergency entrances, as well as the Adirondack Bank and Nexus centers and other local destinations. 

The exterior will be clad with precast concrete panels that feature lighting along Oriskany Street that can be programmed to coordinate with downtown events. 

The garage also will feature a climate-controlled pedestrian corridor that connects the main entrance of the hospital to the ground floor of the parking garage.  

A heliport that will serve the hospital’s emergency transport needs will be located above the last parking level at the top of the structure. 

March Architects and Planners are handling the project, Picente said, noting the firm has done other work for the city in the past. 

“We think it complements the outstanding look of Wynn Hospital,” Picente said of the parking garage’s design. 

The county has watched the price tag associated with the parking garage increase $12 million this year alone. The garage will now cost $55.8 million, according to numbers provided by the county. 

The proposed project increased by $2 million in June due to higher-than-expected labor and product costs. 

In February, the project incurred an additional increase of $10 million, because Utica rescinded on an original agreement of providing parking spaces in Kennedy Garage, thereby forcing the county to increase the size of the garage to accommodate an additional 350 spaces and a helicopter pad, according to correspondence between Picente and the Oneida County Board of Legislators.  

Utica officials countered in February, stating it did not pull out of providing spaces in Kennedy to the Mohawk Valley Health System and noted the potential buyer of the Kennedy garage could even possibly construct additional levels of parking in the garage that could be utilized.  

The county is covering $30,900,000 of the garage’s overall projected cost, with the remainder being covered by state and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, according to capital project reports.    

Further breaking down the funding, Picente said the county has bonded for $30 million for the project, Empire State Development has contributed $10 million in funding on the state side and the county will utilize $10 million in ARPA funding for the project.  

The county has been visualizing and working on plans for the proposed parking garage since 2016.   

In 2018, Empire State Development awarded the $10 million allotment, which at the time broke down as $7 million for the county and $3 million for the Kennedy Garage.   

The county went back and asked the state to change the allotment after it said Utica backed out, Picente said. 

Utica backing out and the need to go through the court system with eminent domain were the main issues delaying the project, Picente said. 

“We should have been into construction at this time,” Picente said. 

Representatives from March Architects and Planners said construction on the site has technically begun, with various preliminary site work already underway.