Constructing a thoroughly modern parking structure in an historic area is a delicate business, but OCTA and the City of Orange are working together to ensure that the Orange Metrolink Parking Structure is a good fit in Old Towne Orange.
The five-story, 611-space structure is being built on the corner of Lemon Street and Chapman Avenue in the popular antique shopping area to provide much-needed parking for Orange Transportation Center transit users, shoppers, and diners.
This week, crews will finish installing decorative brick panels that will give the five-story structure a look and feel that is distinctly Old Towne Orange. During the past several weeks, more than 120 large-scale, custom-designed brick panels, some weighing as much as 30 tons, have been installed to the structure’s exterior. Minor installation work will be ongoing through the next few weeks as crews complete the exterior façade.
In the next few months, the entire structure will come into full view. Work on the north and south elevator towers will wrap up. The structure’s surfaces will be painted or otherwise finished. Low-profile solar panels will go on the top deck and the bicycle plaza will be constructed on the northwest corner of the structure at the intersection of Cypress Street and Maple Avenue. Similarly, landscaping and other details will be completed.
This $33.2 million project is funded by the City of Orange, OC Go, the State Transportation Improvement Program, and the Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ). Formerly known as Measure M, OC Go is the county’s half-cent sales tax that puts local tax dollars to work for transportation improvements.
Now 60 percent complete, the Orange Metrolink Parking Structure is expected to open in early 2019.
Learn more about the Metrolink parking structure here.