Northampton is about to make a costly decision that cannot be undone: tearing down the E.J. Gare Parking Garage. Before the city commits, I urge the mayor and City Council to take a harder look at reuse.
I have practiced architecture for more than 50 years, mainly renovating, rehabilitating and preserving historic and existing buildings. I am currently architect of record on more than 10 existing and historic buildings in Holyoke, four to 10 levels, many needing structural repair, some of it severe. One principle has guided my career: the least costly building is usually the one you already own.
I have read the city’s condition assessment by Hoffmann Architects + Engineers and recently walked the garage again. The damage is real. Concrete has fallen from the upper ramp, steel connections are corroded, and closing the upper levels was the right call. Where I part company is the leap from those findings to demolition.
The real problem is water
The report itself points to the cause. Most of the garage’s waterproofing has failed or worn away. Some drains may be clogged with debris, and some grates sit higher than the surfaces they drain. Water ponds on the decks, and leaking joints drip salty meltwater onto the steel below. Engineers were reporting spalling as early as 2001. This is mainly a story of poorly constructed drainage details and deferred maintenance.
The “concrete cancer” in the headlines is alkali-silica reaction, or ASR, a slow swelling of certain stones in the concrete. The rust is a separate problem: corrosion of steel from road salt. Both need moisture. Keep the concrete dry, and both slow dramatically and can stop.
Notably, the report’s “severe” ASR rating rests on a single core from the most weather-exposed spot, a column top above the roof deck. A core from the deck showed only minor ASR, and the cast-in-place shear walls were found in good condition.
The numbers deserve better
Hoffmann estimates a full repair at $7 million to $10 million and a new garage at $18 million to $33 million. A surface lot would cost $3.3 million to $3.8 million but leave downtown more than 200 spaces short. Meanwhile, the city spends about $9,000 a month on shoring, and a $24 million borrowing would add about $206 to the average tax bill.
Yet the report says its repair costs were not derived from actual quantities, and its replacement figures are rough estimates made without site surveys or designs. A decision this large and this permanent deserves firmer numbers.
A better path: reuse with housing
First, put a roof over the top level so rain and snow never reach it again. Seal the lower decks, replace the joints and drains, and treat the corroded steel, steps the report itself recommends.
Then build lightweight housing above: two floors of wood or light-steel framing, carried directly on the existing columns and cast-in-place shear walls, bypassing the damaged decks. Three to four levels of parking would remain, with the skybridge to Thornes intact.
The foundation supports this idea. From my drafting table in Thornes, I watched the garage’s deep piles being driven all summer. Their design capacities are on record and can be checked against the added load.
The city has already floated selling the site for development with public parking kept. Reuse can deliver that housing without first spending millions to tear down.
It is also the greener choice. Demolishing and rebuilding means thousands of cubic yards of new concrete: by my rough estimate, more than 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the cement alone. That is hard to square with Northampton’s climate goals, and landfilling demolished concrete wastes the energy that made it.
What the city should do first
Before any demolition vote, I urge the city to:
Obtain independent second and third structural opinions from engineers experienced in rehabilitating precast garages.
Retrieve the original pile and foundation records to determine how much load can be added.
Commission an architectural feasibility study of reuse with added housing.
Compare the life-cycle cost and carbon of repair, reuse and replacement.
These studies cost a small fraction of a new garage. Let’s be sure before we do it.
Tristram W. Metcalfe III, AIA, NCARB, is an architect registered in Massachusetts, previously in New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire. He practices as Metcalfe Associates Architecture in Northampton.