Missoula’s newest parking structure, Park Place, is one of seven winners in the International Parking Institute 2014 Awards of Excellence. Park Place won the Award for Architectural Achievement in the international competition, where it was called “visually striking” and honored for its energy- conserving, green features as well as its beauty.

“I was deeply honored and thrilled to receive this Award of Excellence on behalf of the Missoula Parking Commission and our new structure, Park Place,” said Missoula Parking Commission director Anne Guest. “It is especially significant that it was designed and built by local talent and funded by local agencies. Missoula, Montana certainly held its own with this international recognition.”

Park Place opened with a ribbon-cutting on March 1, 2013, at the corner of East Front and Pattee streets. The $10 million public parking project was a joint venture of the Missoula Parking Commission and the Missoula Redevelopment Agency (MRA), both agencies of the City of Missoula. MacArthur, Means & Wells Architects of Missoula served as architects. The project team was Don MacArthur, Luke Jackson and Shane Morrissey.

“From the very beginning of the project, the Missoula Parking Commission and the Missoula Redevelopment Agency had a compelling vision of a ‘fresh, urban and progressive’ parking structure,” architect MacArthur said. “I’m very excited that Park Place has been recognized for architectural achievement by the IPI. The design energizes the street with retail space and dynamic public art, it is near ‘net-zero’ in energy use, and the building’s skin recalls the landscape of Missoula. I’m grateful for the opportunity to partner with the MPC and MRA on Park Place.”

“It was a challenging project for the parking commission to manage because of the complexities,” said MRA director Ellen Buchanan, “but the outcome is fantastic. We are especially proud of having retail on the ground floor, with the Market on Front Street.”

The five-story building contains many green features, including state-of–the–art lighting systems, a high-efficiency elevator, infrastructure for electric car charging stations and one of the largest installations of solar panels in Montana.

Additional contact for interviews:

Don MacArthur, MacArthur, Means & Wells Architects, at 543-5800 or don@mmwarchitects.com.