I do construction estimates professionally, so I theoretically know where all the money is going, but god damn, I can still not believe what it costs to build stuff. And the inflation is nuts, a structure like that probably would've cost less than a quarter as much 20 years ago.

I kind of have a philosophy re: public works projects that, hey, the money isn't getting flushed down the toilet, it's all going to workers getting paid the prevailing wage, engineers, contractors; all that money is getting spent in the economy, it all works as economic stimulus so ultimately, whether that stimulus is $10 million or $47 million, you still have a parking garage at the end.

But still $47 million, ugh, why. It's a pile of concrete.

The city's goal for the surface lots is to put real development on them, at which point it will need more parking structures than it has now. Whether this is putting the court before the horse, eh, I dunno, but other commenters do say they've had difficulty parking in the area.