Broadway Commons casino work to cut parking by 2,000 spaces.
Downtown Cincinnati is going to lose one of its largest parking lots this week as construction preparations begin for the incoming casino at Broadway Commons.
Rock Gaming LLC will soon begin fencing off the 22-acre parking lot at Reading Road and Broadway, a first step on the road to building the $400 million casino. The shut down of the garage will deal a blow to the businesses in the area, many of whom depend on the lot to allow potential customers to park within walking distance. While city officials are at work developing parking fixes like building new garages and expanding current garages, business are left trying to find other solutions in the immediate future..
Some business are considering busing customers from other parking structures, or converting lots to parking areas at considerable expense. Jennifer Kulczycki, a spokeswoman for Rock Gaming, had this to say about the situation:
"We've been very forthright in saying there would come a time when we would need to secure the site and the parking would go away. At the end of the day, we want to be a good neighbor, but at the same time we have to keep this site safe and secure. It's not feasible to allow any parking on the site when we fence it off and bring in massive grading equipment and start demolition."