Representatives from The Tioga project are requesting to lease up to 70 parking spaces from the City of Merced in Parking Lots #4 and 5.

The spaces will be used for apartment resident parking at the renovated The Tioga.

The Tioga Investors team and City
of Merced staff have negotiated a lease, and both parties are in agreement with the market-rate terms.

Residents from The Tioga Apartments will be able to rent a parking space for about $35 a month.

The Tioga renovation project includes the transition of the former 100-room hotel to a 70-unit, market rate apartment complex consisting of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.

The Tioga project is undergoing construction, and completion is anticipated by Spring 2020.

Downtown is experiencing a renaissance. throughout the early years of Merced’s history, Downtown Merced was the center of community life.

This began to change during the 1960s and 1970s when Downtown lost its dominance with the development of north Merced.

Throughout the 1980s and
The 1990s efforts towards rebuilding Downtown were focused on creating a niche for Downtown within the community.

Downtown Merced is the center for entertainment, arts, and government. Now, Downtown Merced is experiencing an expansion of hospitality businesses.

For the first time in decades, private
investment, spurred by past governmental investment and planning, returned to Downtown.

Projects such as the Merced Theatre restoration, UC Merced Downtown Center, the newly located Cardenas Market, and family-friendly venues such as Rockin’ Jump Trampoline Park are examples of Downtown Merced’s growing resurgence.

The 2007 Downtown Merced Strategy encourages the City to focus on the creation of new residential and mixed-use projects to help solidify the Downtown Core.

The Tioga apartment project is the largest
multi-family facility in the Downtown Core and is a blended-use project with hospitality and retail opportunities on the first and mezzanine floors.

Other residential projects include the Merced Lofts and Merced Theatre Apartments. For the Merced Lofts project, tenant parking was incorporated into the expansion of Parking Lot 1 generally located off West 18th Street between M Street and Canal Street.

Dedicated parking spaces behind the Merced Theatre near W.18th Street and Martin Luther
King Jr Way are marked for Merced Theatre Apartment tenants.

The key mission of the Downtown Parking Plan is to provide plentiful parking to downtown customers and visitors.

Staff will continue monitoring parking patterns in the adjacent lots and recommend
as necessary.

With the completion of other downtown projects such as the Mainzer Theatre, there will be greater pressure on nearby parking resources.

Staff is evaluating the results from a parking garage feasibility study prepared by a consulting team.

The study evaluated expanding parking supply in Downtown Merced at various locations. The Council Downtown Sub-Committee also suggested staff to consider transitioning strategic locations in Downtown from parallel parking to diagonal parking to increase parking supply.

The Downtown Parking Plan recommends studying the use of one-way streets and diagonal parking to increase the supply of parking in Downtown Merced.