McCarthy Building Cos. of Newport Beach has kicked off work onthe $4-million structure, which is scheduled to be completed inJanuary 2004 for Caribou Industries, the parking structure owner,according to Mike Harrah, president of Caribou.

Harrah called the project a catalyst for the revitalization ofthe Downtown area as well as surrounding neighborhoods. He notesthat parking for office and retail space is one of the keys to thecontinuing redevelopment process here, where city officials havebeen pursuing a number of redevelopment and revitalization efforts.Including Downtown, about 5,000 acres of the 27-square-mile cityare in six redevelopment zones. The revitalization efforts haveproduced a growing Artists Village district, a new federal buildingnamed for former President Ronald Reagan and a number of othercommercial developments.

The 163,640-sf, cast-in-place Sycamore Street parking garagewill be a concrete structure featuring masonry walls, securityscreening, roll-up gates and a colored plaster exterior, accordingto Frank Pasztor, a McCarthy vice president. Choate ParkingConsultants, Inc. of Irvine is working with McCarthy to providearchitectural services for the Sycamore Parking Structure, forwhich Pasztor says an expedited permitting and approval processproduced permits, design, plan check and approvals in about half ofthe three months ordinarily required for such a project.