Interesting tidbit that turned up recently. I thought everything Phase 3 was in a coma. Looks like Maxwell Parking may have a pulse.

The linked RFQ is looking for a developer/operator to build and use the operating revenue to finance construction. Not sure how such a small garage (550 spots) pencils out. Especially when the size has to be more like that of a 750 spot garage (due to athletic field on top).

One thing I really like about the current setup is how well Maxwell Field transitions into the stadium. I think this will be lost with a parking deck - unless it is 100% subterranean. Even so, there will be ramps and vehicle drives that will foul the pedestrian access.

http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/reso/RFQ/Maxwell%20Parking%20RFQ%202-15-13%20final.pdf

Don't hold your breath.

I got to say, I don't like this idea. Maxwell field is a great environment before the game. And geeedub is right, vehicle ramps would destroy the pedestrian feel. Wasn't the elimination of the parking garage part of the concession we had with the Hill People?

OneTopOneChickenApple;842108127 said:

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I got to say, I don't like this idea. Maxwell field is a great environment before the game. And geeedub is right, vehicle ramps would destroy the pedestrian feel. Wasn't the elimination of the parking garage part of the concession we had with the Hill People?

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Yep. I just read the RFQ more closely. Calls for a 2-story above ground parking structure with sports field on top. Lame. Would totally ruin the fan experience and flow through Maxwell as it is now.

Previous renditions of this were entirely subterranean, but the RFQ points out that underground parking construction is more expensive than above grade.

Full disclosure - I heard about this b/c I design (and my employer builds) precast parking structures and it showed up on a marketing overview of potential upcoming projects. So I started poking around and found this RFQ via Google. Now I like parking structures as much as the next guy (probably more), but this is not the place to put one.

Stupid f$&ing idea.

Also, the new setting of CMS with the staircase and Golden Bear statue, etc. would be marred with a two-story parking structure next to it.

Isn't Phase II supposed to be finishing the east side ... great view from the west side, looking east, of the porta-potties.
That would seem like a more do-able project that's needed.

A "new" stadium with ... porta-potties ???
Kinda like wearing a new light-colored suit with a tell-tale brown stain near the butt.

Phase 3 is an important step to finishing the Memorial renovation process.
We need more parking and tailgating options around the stadium.
I'm not sure how best to do this but I'm sure smart people can figure it out.
They already did an amazing job with the first 2 phases.

GoldenBear1;842108233 said:

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Phase 3 is an important step to finishing the Memorial renovation process.
We need more parking and tailgating options around the stadium.
I'm not sure how best to do this but I'm sure smart people can figure it out.
They already did an amazing job with the first 2 phases.

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Hope it isn't 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Having a decent sized parking lot that fans can access for Softball, Rugby, Lacrosse, and Field Hockey couldn't hurt. Sure, having it be underground is optimal but I bet a good architect can make a above ground lot work with the stadium.

geeedub;842108087 said:

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Interesting tidbit that turned up recently. I thought everything Phase 3 was in a coma. Looks like Maxwell Parking may have a pulse.

[URL="http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/reso/RFQ/Maxwell%20Parking%20RFQ%202-15-13%20final.pdf"][/URL]

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Thanks for posting this information - I believe the parking is a completely separate project now 'unrelated' to Phase III. UC made an agreement with the COB and the PHA to reduce the proposed size of the structure in return for them dropping the rest of the lawsuits surrounding the stadium (the doc you link says the limit is 546 spaces down from 800 plus, and that maybe around 440 can be accommodated with a 2 story garage).

I wonder what the price difference was between the underground and above ground structures and who is paying for the structure. It's something that will be used by the entire campus community, and is especially needed if they want to proceed with the law/business building between boalt/haas (now a parking lot). There has been a lot of lost parking.

Maxwell Field is a good deal lower than the goldman plaza/ entry level of CMS, and it's down a hill from rim way on the east side, and it currently is above piedmont (or is it gayley?) a decent amount. I think one could put a two story structure there without it sticking out too badly. For instance if the new Maxwell Field were at the same level as the Goldman Plaza with parking underneath it could flow pretty well. That might require a little excavation to make the first level at street level, the 2nd level where maxwell currently is, and the new field even with the hill above on the east.

It would be really annoying to have cars trying to leave after the game... that was a problem before to, and would be a problem if the lot were underground or above ground. I with they would just figure out a way to get people to chill out in the clubs for 20 minutes to clear out the pedestrian traffic.

Everything they've done on the west side has looked great and blended in with the surroundings nicely. No reason to think they drop the ball now.

OneTopOneChickenApple;842108127 said:

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I got to say, I don't like this idea. Maxwell field is a great environment before the game. And geeedub is right, vehicle ramps would destroy the pedestrian feel. Wasn't the elimination of the parking garage part of the concession we had with the Hill People?

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I would hate to see Maxwell turned into a parking lot. I have many great memories of playing IM sports there, then grabbing beers at the I-House/Bear's Lair. Yes, Underhill is the better field, but having both Maxwell and Underhill allowed for a wide breadth and large IM sports system. A system which directly serves the students.

Pretty sure Maxwell stays....just on the roof of the parking structure?

Yes, Maxwell will remain but at a higher elevation.

SRBear;842108256 said:

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Pretty sure Maxwell stays....just on the roof of the parking structure?

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it would appear I was misinformed.

So you drop close to $500 million on a palace and go cheap on the garage? Okay it won't be cheap but over 1 story high it'll get weird and look bad. Maybe they'll put something ped/student friendly at ground level on Piedmont, instead of just stacks of parking.

Found the original plans:

http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/RFQ_12265B_MaxwellFieldPrkgStudy.pdf

Looks like the new Maxwell was always intended to be above its current level and about the same height as Goldman Plaza. All that is new is that Cal isn't going to dig down, it appears. Per the agreement with the COB and PHA, the original size has been reduced so maybe this essentially will look as originally proposed. You can see that the original design also intended to hide a loading dock on the north side of the SAHPC below the new field.

Looking at the elevations, the field was supposed to be between 400' and 405'. Gayley Road is between 380' and 375' along Maxwell and parking levels are ~10' tall. There are no elevations listed for the stadium and plaza, but the field was clearly planned as slightly below the plaza, but higher than it is now.

It should look fine if a proper facade is built on the garage, and why wouldn't they do that?

Not digging will save a ton of money as I would guess the marginal cost of the extra spots underground is increasingly great and the original 4 story design is not even allowed. A two story design means no ramps needed, which means less wasted space as well.

ColoradoBear1;842108296 said:

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Found the original plans:

http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/RFQ_12265B_MaxwellFieldPrkgStudy.pdf

Looks like the new Maxwell was always intended to be above its current level and about the same height as Goldman Plaza. All that is new is that Cal isn't going to dig down, it appears. Per the agreement with the COB and PHA, the original size has been reduced so maybe this essentially will look as originally proposed. You can see that the original design also intended to hide a loading dock on the north side of the SAHPC below the new field.

Looking at the elevations, the field was supposed to be between 400' and 405'. Gayley Road is between 380' and 375' along Maxwell and parking levels are ~10' tall. There are no elevations listed for the stadium and plaza, but the field was clearly planned as slightly below the plaza, but higher than it is now.

It should look fine if a proper facade is built on the garage, and why wouldn't they do that?

Not digging will save a ton of money as I would guess the marginal cost of the extra spots underground is increasingly great and the original 4 story design is not even allowed. A two story design means no ramps needed, which means less wasted space as well.

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I re-read it again and it said the preferred option (at the developer's proposal) may be to have 2 levels of parking ~ 400 spaces, with one of the levels partially excavated, and the other elevated. The field would then be on the roof (or 3rd level). If this can be at pedestrian elevation without having folks have to walk through the parking lot (or around it), that would be nice.

Right now, I really like Maxwell Field to walk to the stadium. I've played catch with my son after games there and it is a good fan experience. If you have to climb stairs to get up there, I don't know.

I agree with your previous assessment about project. The RFQ provides construction financing through operator parking revenue - which clearly makes this separate from Phase 3 stadium improvements (which I'm guessing are not even dreamt about how they'll be financed.)

If you've seen people in cars who park on campus just west of the Stadium ridiculous trying to drive up that campus road just to the west of the intersection of Stadium Rim Way and Gayley Rd after the game when 10,000 folks are walking from the Stadium to downtown Berkeley BART, you will understand the flow issues Cal would be taking on.

That said, I do think that I've seen better traffic management at away games. Up at Oregon St. they appear to me to do a great job of keeping cars and pedestrians moving along. But they turn roads into one-way roads using all lanes with plenty of police and cones to make it work. I would tend to agree that if you so desperately need to park on next to the Stadium versus the vast majority of us who walk and/or walk to public transit, you sign up knowing that no cars would be allowed to exit a new garage at Maxwell until 20 minutes after the game ends. At that point, it should be possible to keep the remaining pedestrians on the sidewalks and cars flowing. But they might have to for about 20-30 minutes make Gayley road and Hearst one way roads, using all lanes to get cars down to Oxford, Shattuck, and University. And Piedmont would be one way going south to Bancroft and Haste. If you park in those garages, you should have no expectation that you get priority getting out ahead of folks walking and using transit.

I'm still not sure why one wants to tailgate in a parking garage. My friends and I spend our Saturday pre-game greeting the team at Memorial, going down to the ASUC Store or Bancroft Clothing to check out some new Cal items, catching the Cal Band and spirit groups pre-game rally on the steps of Sproul Hall, and then getting some more exercise walking up to Memorial where we enjoy settling in and the variety of food now available and watching the teams warm up before catching the Cal Marching Band pre-game show. If people want to picnic before a game, perhaps Cal can provide some lockers on campus on the edge of the grassy areas where folks can store their picnic supplies and get them on their way out after the game.

I thought that if anything were to be built under Maxwell Field, it would be a one-story Band Room that would not change the height of the field too much. When University of Minnesota built their impressive new stadium, they included a band room big enough for their band. My understanding is that the Cal Band is limited in size by the small facilities they have down off of Sproul Plaza and the entire band cannot fit in the practice room to rehearse the musical aspects of their performances. Seems like that centally located space would have incremental value to the University should it be freed up.

I agree with the band room issue, but they should hopefully be getting more space with the lower Sproul re-do.

If the Maxwell Field is at the level of the current parking lot adjacent to the field, and the parking is moved below to the two level structure there, that would be fine - they would have to excavate a bit but that would only be about 5 feet or so below grade from Piedmont Avenue.

What I think they ought to do at that point is to utilize the current parking area there and make that into a stand for the maxwell field area. In fact, you could expand maxwell field onto the current parking area, and have a grandstand on both sides. Under the grandstand you could have offices, etc. That could be a nice place for other field sports beyond football. You would have to re-configure the entrance to Maxwell Field to allow for flow to the football stadium, but that would turn that into a mini stadium for a ton of other sports. You would have to make a decent facade to make it look good. The entrace to Maxwell Field would now be the same as the stadium entrance.

Actually won't do much for the Band. That whole area the band uses will remain largely untouched. We might get a bigger storage facility out of it, but who knows.