Maintenance of Davis Square garage ‘slipped through the cracks’
By Andrea Gregory

The city will spend $150,000 to fix up the Buena Vista Parking Garage in Davis Square. The garage has suffered damage and severe wear and tear due to lack of regular maintenance, say officials.
  To follow through with all the needed repairs would cost the city more than $600,000.  However, the first stage of cleaning up the space should make the structure safer and buy the city some time before tackling the entire project.

  Gerald Boyle, director of the capital projects management department, said the garage is not in imminent danger of collapsing, but waiting any longer will just worsen the problems. He said the city will probably buy itself three years before it needs to reevaluate the structure and follow up on additional repairs. He warns that the cost of repairs then is expected to increase.
  ‚ÄúWe have seen construction inflation going up quite a bit,‚Äù he said.
  Boyle said the garage was built in 1989 and has had no repairs to date as far as he knows. Currently, a small portion of the garage is out of commission due to safety issues. The money will be spent on fixing the leaks and some minor concrete repairs, he said. Boyle said the fact that ‚Äúwater and concrete don‚Äôt mix well‚Äù and the city failed to perform regular maintenance lead to the garage‚Äôs poor condition.
  ‚ÄúA lot of people did not realize we own it. It is probably something that had slipped through the cracks,‚Äù he said.
  Faced with the cost of repairs, city officials are starting to examine the possibility of additional revenue and use for the garage.
  Rebekah Gewirtz, Ward 6 alderman, said there is a parking problem in Davis Square and she and other officials would like to see a deal worked out where the public could make use of the garage as well as the current tenant. Right now the city is locked into a 100-year lease for the garage. She said the city does not have the best deal when it comes to the current agreement. It would be ideal to make use of those spaces over the weekend when the garage is not being used by the tenant, Gewirtz said.
  ‚ÄúThe goal is to get that to happen. There is a parking problem in Davis Square especially on Friday and Saturday nights,‚Äù she said.