Towering crane will place prefabricated pieces of $7.68 million garage on Cameron St.rn
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By Eric BeidelrnThe Winchester Star rnrnWinchester – Recently, it’s been a visible part of the modest city skyline from just about anywhere in town.rnrnThe towering crane arrived Friday and will stay for a few months on Cameron Street, where Howard Shockey and Sons Inc. has started building a new parking garage.rnrnThe crane can lift more than 300 tons and stretch more than 200 feet into the sky when fully extended.rnrnShockey is using it to place prefabricated pieces of the $7.68 million parking deck.rnrnLocated between the George Washington Hotel and the Frederick County Office Complex on Cameron Street, the parking garage will be the city’s fourth autopark. The others are at Boscawen, Braddock, and Loudoun streets.rnrnWhen completed, the Cameron Street garage will offer a total of 540 spaces on five main levels, a partial lower level, and on the roof.rnrnThe George Washington Hotel will have use of outside parking spaces at the site, as well as 100 spaces inside the garage.rnrnThe city’s three existing garages provide a total of 1,789 spaces.rnrnShockey hopes to complete the new autopark by the end of March, and the garage should open for business on the first of April, said Gary Ball, project executive for Shockey.rnrnCity officials had hoped to have the new autopark finished by November, but they discovered they didn’t own a small piece of land where the facility will stand.rnrnWhen city leaders acquired the autopark site from the George Washington Hotel for the project, they found out that years ago, a sliver of land needed for the garage had been deeded to a church.rnrnAs a result, the city had to buy the 111/2-by-110-foot piece of land from Grace Lutheran Church, 16 North Braddock Street. Church members were unaware that the church owned the land.rnrnThe city also had to get approval from Winchester’s Board of Architectural Review, because a small portion of the garage – the extreme northwest corner, closest to the hotel along Cameron Street – is within the boundaries of the Historic District.rnrn”It’s kind of like an erector set