Visitors to the Perkins overpass have a new parking option

A new paid parking lot opened last week next to Bet-R Neighborhood Market in the Perkins Road Overpass District.

Parking has for years been an issue for businesses under the Perkins overpass, and BLDG 5 co-owner Misti Broussard says the new parking lot will bring some much-needed relief.

“We’re excited about it,” she says. “We think the entire neighborhood will use it and enjoy it.”

The new parking lot is operated by Premium Parking and arrives just ahead of the much-anticipated Perkins underpass revitalization project, which is expected to break ground next year. That project will enhance landscaping, lighting and parking and see a new bike and pedestrian path installed, among other quality-of-life upgrades.

“This parking lot will be a great way for people to still be able to park and access all of the businesses safely while that project is underway,” Broussard says.

The $2 million revitalization project got its start about four years ago when a handful of area business owners raised some $40,000 to fund a land survey and landscape plan showing what could be done to improve the thriving commercial district.

While painfully slow and held up by bureaucratic hurdles, the project has made incremental progress. Read more here.