SALISBURY, Md. - A major redevelopment of Downtown Salisbury is moving forward.
Developer Gillis Gilkerson has already taken over two downtown parking lots. Tuesday, the City Council approved allowing the company to take over a third.
Joan Gunby loves coming to the library downtown with her grandkids. But the thought of even more parking lots being developed concerns her.
"It's impacted my parking. It was so easy for me to come and park in the lot and then walk over to the library. Not that it's that much further but it's a little more inconvenient," she said.
Downtown skate shop owner Bryan Whipple supports the plan.
"You might have to walk a little bit further to park but it's a tight space down here and half of it doesn't need to be parking," he said.
The property's developer Brad Gillis says the apartments have been a long time coming.
"This is something that's very transformational for Salisbury. It's going to be great, we're excited," he said.
"This is us taking the next step as a community and uh yes it's going to be challenging, we're partnering with the City of Salisbury to build a parking garage," Gillis continued.
Of the three downtown lots Gillis is developing there are about 300 parking spots.
Unity Square is taking over about 200 spots.
The new parking garage Gillis is building is expected to have around 450 spots.
That means the downtown will likely have less parking when all is said and done.
Gillis says we are still years out from the project's completion. He says the first tenants could move in by 2027.
