Downtown parking garage enhancements planned

Mayor Drew Dilkens and Windsor Symphony Orchestra maestro Robert Franz announced details of the parking garage initiative on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Source: Drew Dilkens/Facebook)

The City of Windsor has unveiled plans for the “Park in Perfect Harmony” initiative in the downtown core.

Mayor Drew Dilkens and Windsor Symphony Orchestra maestro Robert Franz announced details over the weekend. Planned for a spring 2025 rollout, the project will see all four floors of the garage named to honour composers Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

"Parking at the Pelissier Street garage will be a symphonic experience. It is the perfect way to start your evening at the WSO as you park your car on one of the floors named after our greatest composers,” said Franz.

Theming on each floor will include an audio musical component featuring the WSO musicians performing segments of popular classics from the composers’ bodies of work.

New public art

City officials are inviting Windsor artists to participate in creating two new public art installations in the Pelissier Street Parking Garage.

Dilkens and Ward 3 Councillor Renaldo Agostino announced the public call for artists at a special “Classical in the Concrete” concert by the WSO on Saturday, performed on the main level of the prominent parking garage downtown as part of the weekend’s “Fall in Love With Downtown Windsor” events. Windsor Symphony Orchestra in the Pelissier parking garage initiative on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Source: Drew Dilkens/Facebook)

“Our ‘Fall in Love With Downtown Windsor’ event did exactly what it was intended to do – bringing together businesses and artists, vendors and visionaries to see how exciting and vibrant the city’s core is and can be,” said Agostino.

Public Call for Mural Artists

For the simultaneous public art component, the City of Windsor is seeking to commission one or more artists, or artist-led teams, specializing in mural design and painting, to create two permanent new murals that will be integrated into the main level interior space of the Pelissier Street parking garage. The commissioned artist(s) will be expected to complete the murals by May of 2025.

The murals must focus on one or more of the themes identified in the Public Call to Artists – Pelissier Street Parking Garage Murals Project (available October 1, 2024 on the City’s website), which is open to artists residing within the city of Windsor, Ontario. The works must be completed using exterior primer and paint formulated for use on concrete or masonry and must include an anti-graffiti clear coat upon completion.

The two wall spaces available for the murals include the following:

• Northeast Main Walls: 60.7 feet long by 14 feet high; surface area approximately 849 square feet.
• Southeast Main Walls: 117.3 feet long by 11 to 17 feet high; surface area approximately 1466 square feet.
• Interested artists have from October 1 to November 1, 2024, to complete their applications.

The submission form will be available at www.CityWindsor.ca on Oct. 1, 2024.

The full budget for the project is $55,000:

• $20,000, plus HST, is available for the Northeast Main Walls mural.
• $35,000, plus HST, is available for the Southeast Main Walls mural.

Both the parking level naming and theming initiative as well as the new main level murals are intended to help beautify the parking garage that is frequently used by residents and visitors attending events, including WSO concerts and the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) at the nearby City-owned historic Capitol Theatre. The projects will also complement existing creative works and installations in the adjacent Art Alley.

The murals will help to beautify the parking garage, inspiring future innovative, engaging, and temporary uses of the space.

Strengthen The Core

Both initiatives also tie into the City’s Strengthen the Core: Downtown Windsor Revitalization Plan (STC), which launched in April to address safety, security, and cleanliness downtown, while implementing measures and supporting activations to encourage new residents, businesses, and investments in the city’s core.

“These two initiatives – naming the floors of the Pelissier Street Parking Garage in partnership with the WSO and launching a call for artists to create new murals for this space – are part of how we are working to Strengthen the Core and create opportunities for artists and vibrant places where people want to be,”said Dilkens.