As groundbreaking nears, City of Mason City & Kinseth Hospitality enter into parking sharing agreement for new downtown hotel

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City last night approved agreements for the construction and management of the downtown skywalk as well as a parking agreement with the developers of the hotel being constructed as part of the River City Renaissance Project.

Besides the terms and conditions regarding the skywalk, the agreement also provides the ability for the hotel, which is being constructed by a limited liability company of Kinseth Hospitality, to utilize 54 parking spaces in the city-owned Southbridge Mall parking lot as overflow parking.

City Administrator Aaron Burnett says the plan benefits both the hotel and the mall.   “The benefit of working this out is really a win-win because that allows when those 54 spots are not being used, they are just generally used by the public, they are non-exclusive. So that means essentially the mall parking lot just has the overflow capacity of 54 more spots if they need them.”

Burnett says the sharing agreement is the best way to utilize the parking available.  “I think this is a great way to work it out because actually exclusive spots are one of the least efficient ways you can park a vehicle, because it means there’s only a vehicle in that location for maybe four hours a day at best, whereas this will see that parking lot really see its highest utilization.”

Kinseth is in the final steps prior to starting construction of an 80-room extended-stay hotel facility with a pool and associated parking and landscaping improvements on land in the eastern portion of the Southbridge Mall parking lot.