Puerto Plata troubadour Juan Lockward wrote a ballad on Santiago that contemporary singers will frequently include when performing in the city. One part of the song says, “Now Santiago has something it did not have…..” and the singers fill in the blank with a tribute to a new store or building, or whatever.
Well, now Santiago has a six-story parking garage, something that is extremely rare in this country. Located at the corner of Restauración and Cuba streets, the facility can hold as many as 600 vehicles. At present the first four floors are open for business. Visitors and workers at the Clinica Corominas across the street promptly put the private garage to use. Plans are to raise the garage to eight stories, but city approval is still pending.
Inner-city congestion of Santiago is reaching gridlock proportions. This new garage is relieving some of the strain. Plans for another two large garages are in the works, but just where to build them is far from certain. One location, the historic San Luis Fort was suggested but rejected. Many of the typical historical houses in the central part of the city—between Plaza Valerio and Juan Pablo Duarte, and between the river and Las Carreras Avenue—have been destroyed to make way for public parking in the vacant lots.
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El Caribe
14 October 2019