City reaches $2 million settlement on Ramp 6 design

The City of Rochester has come to terms on a settlement with the contractors involved with Parking Ramp 6.

Under the terms of the agreement, the city will receive a combined payment of $2,025,000 from three companies — Collaborative Design Group, MEP Associates, and Kraus-Anderson Construction.

The agreement, made public this week after receiving approval from the city council, did not specify each firm’s share of the payment. Further, the settlement did not come with any admission of liability.

The city had filed a lawsuit against CDG in March 2021 alleging that the company was responsible for structural flaws in the design of the ramp.

The city had intended for the $31.4 million ramp to be able to handle the addition of up to 10 levels of housing on top of it. In 2019, however, an independent consultant found that the ramp may not be structurally sound enough to handle a planned vertical expansion.

As a result, the city scrapped a proposal from CommonBond Communities that called for building 127 affordable housing units above the ramp.

The council has since approved $100,000 in restoration costs to address some structural deficiencies, such as repairing sealing cracks in the concrete and improving drainage around the ramp.

Reached this week, however, city administration did offer any indication the ramp would be used to support housing in the future.

“At this time the City of Rochester will continue to operate Ramp 6 as a parking ramp,” said city spokesperson Jenna Bowman. “There are no immediate plans for use beyond that.”

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.