Riverfront parking (Enquirer art) | ZOOM (PDF file) |

        More than 1,000 people who park at Cinergy Field will have to hunt for new spaces starting Tuesday.

        That's because the garage will close then as workers prepare to begin demolition of the 32-year-old stadium. The demolition is needed to make room for the neighboring $280 million Great American Ballpark.

        The move will eliminate more than 2,300 prime parking spaces in the Cinergy Field garage — the world's largest in 1970 when it opened — and on the Cinergy Field plaza.

        More than half of the commuters who had parked at Cinergy Field already have found new spots, many at nearby Paul Brown Stadium lots. As a result, local experts think that the loss of the Cinergy spaces won't create a major downtown parking crunch.

        “The loss of Cinergy will be a big change, but those parkers now have many alternatives to move to, so it won't be a big problem for us,” said John Schneider, former transportation adviser at Downtown Cincinnati Inc. “We started putting a lot of shock absorbers out there months ago just for this, and I think that we'll move through this (demolition) beautifully.”

        Parking observers say the more than 90,000 commuters who work in or visit downtown have more than an adequate supply of choices in Cincinnati's central business district to park.

        For instance, there were more than 2,500 spaces at lots or garages north of Third Street as of early September.

        There are another 2,500 spaces on the Ohio and Kentucky riverfronts, most of those connected to downtown by bus shuttle services.

        Still, Cinergy parkers aren't sure whether they'll face a headache looking for new parking, especially spaces that match Cinergy's rates of $3.25 a day.

        Kim Callahan, who has parked at Cinergy for 14 of the 16 years she's worked downtown, said last week that she hadn't found a new parking place yet.

        “Pretty soon, everybody that's inside will have to move out and figure out where to go,” she said. “It will be an inconvenience... It was nice being inside though it was not enclosed; it was shaded and prevented you from being in the weather. We'll have to deal with the weather now.”

        But Ms. Callahan, an investment associate at Paine Webber, said she'll continue paying for monthly parking.

        “I have to drive downtown for my job and use the parking to take my teenage kids to the games,” she said.

        Bobby Davidson, who works at Great American Insurance, chalks up the loss of his parking space as the price of progress. The 39-year-old College Hill resident said finding another parking space likely won't be a problem. Finding a spot that is as convenient and not as far a walk to work could be.

        “It will be inconvenient because I've been coming here and know how to get in and out,” he said. “I suspect that once the new stadium is done, and hopefully with the new parking that it will bring, it won't be that big of a hassle.”

        For Terry Smithers, director of auditing and consulting services at E. W. Scripps Co., Cinergy's closing won't initially be a problem.

        The 43-year-old Mount Lookout resident already decided to switch to Lot D at Paul Brown Stadium, where he will pay about the same $45-$50 monthly rate he now pays at Cinergy.

        “I don't see it as a big problem because it won't be much of difference for me,” Mr. Smithers said.

        But he is concerned about what will happen to available parking in the future as riverfront development continues, possibly displacing parkers like him.

        “As they develop part of The Banks, they'll have to shift a lot of parking around in the long term,” he said. “I wonder if there will be as much parking as there is now in the Cinergy development.”

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