Auburn City Council approves design firm for new downtown parking deck

On Tuesday evening the City Council approved a $575,000 contract to 2WR of Georgia, Inc. to design the new Wright Street Parking Deck.

The council approved professional design services for the new downtown parking deck after a recommendation from the Wright Street Parking Deck Team.

The team, comprised of the Office of City Manager, Economic Development, Public Works, Planning, Public Safety Codes Enforcement Division and Information Technology, received proposals from 12 qualified firms. The project team recommended 2WR of Georgia, Inc. after they reviewed all proposals and selected and interviewed five design firms.

City Manager Jim Buston said that they are expecting to have the designs from the Columbus firm by June, at which point they will open bids for construction.

2WR has designed buildings across west Georgia and east Alabama, including in Auburn, Montgomery and Phenix City.

The firm also has ties to Auburn University. According to its website, senior partner Scott Allen served as a guest design juror at Auburn and partner Lee Martin is an Auburn grad.

In December, the council approved a resolution proposing the payment of $2.33 million to the Alabama Baptist State Convention for the acquisition of property located at 135 North College St.

The new deck is part of the city's plan to alleviate the problems many residents face trying to find parking downtown.  At their last meeting, the council delayed other downtown parking changes originally scheduled to begin this month until August.