Jacksonville Commercial Electrician Project:
VyStar Parking Garage

The commercial electrical department of American Electrical Contracting is proud to have contributed to the success of the VyStar Parking Garage project in December 2022. The project covered 345,000 square feet.

When you look at the seven-story VyStar Garage, you can easily tell there is more to this building than parking. Now considered one of the gems of Downtown Jacksonville, the geometric design is striking during the day. At night, though, the building really comes alive.

Special color changing LEDs illuminate the building, making it stand out on the corner of Forsyth and Main. VyStar even has the ability to change the color to tailor to events, days of the week, month, or any special occasion. This is thanks to the eDMX software configuration. A robust application, this software is compact and supported by most operating systems, making it easy to use for VyStar.

At 345,000 sq. ft., this ground-up concrete precast garage offers over 800 parking spaces for Vystar employees, the general public, and employees of future nearby projects. 

Since the garage required a lot of lighting and other electronics, it was important to use energy efficient strategies. To ensure the project remains sustainable, all fixtures placed in the garage are LED. They are also motion-sensored and turn off after 20 minutes of inactivity. This feature, while energy efficient, also offers safety reassurance.

In such a key spot of downtown, the garage houses four commercial spaces. The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus currently occupies the east side. The north side is projected to house a nonprofit and the west side a tap room pizzeria. It’s important in an urban environment to make buildings mutli-functional to offer maximum opportunities. This requires complex electrical work for each unit to ensure isolated use of lighting and energy in every space.

With any project, there are challenges. While the exterior lighting is the most notable feature, it was also the most complex part. Since the building is seven floors, the team had to be extremely cautious during installation. Not only did they focus on their safety, they worked hard to ensure the safety of the hundreds of people visiting and parking here every day.

Construction and commercial work is not easy in Downtown Jacksonville, and our team completed the work without incident. The area is heavily trafficked and does not offer much space for construction. When installing the exterior lighting the American Electrical Commercial technicians used equipment that hung from the side of the building, so caution was even more important, especially with foot traffic on the sidewalk and the cars on the streets. 

From the exterior lighting to the architecture and size, the VyStar parking garage is now a memorable part of Downtown Jacksonville. It provides more efficient and functional parking for the area and offers convenience to employees at surrounding businesses. This project will be an attractive feature for years to come.