If you live in Concord, you’ve probably passed it at some point: the large pit spanning the block at the intersection of State Street and Capitol Street, catty-corner to the State House.

The former site of the New Hampshire Department of Justice has sat empty for most of the year, after the state tore down the old building to make way for a new parking garage for state legislators. But the state’s commissioner of administrative services, Charlie Arlinghaus, says the project is on time – most of the work, up till now, has progressed behind the scenes.

He said passersby should begin to see “publicly noticeable activity” on the lot around early November.

“We’re well underway,” Arlinghaus said. “Once it starts going up, it’ll go up pretty quick.”

There are still a few things to do before building and before the ground turns cold, he said, like removing some soil that isn’t compatible with building needs. In August, the Executive Council approved a nearly $18 million contract with Vermont-based PC Construction Company to build the new garage. It’s scheduled to finish in August 2025, in time for the 2026 legislative session.

A sketch of the building shows a three-tier garage adorned with a central stairwell and granite exterior to help it blend in with the rest of the state buildings in the area. Arlinghaus said he’s hoping it isn’t merely “not as hideous as people expect” but is actually attractive – the last thing he wants to do is put a “blight” in the middle of downtown.

It “has a sort of granite dignity to it that echoes the classical lines of the State House and the buildings surrounding it,” Arlinghaus said, which “lends it a dignity that sits quite well with its neighbors.”

The garage will hold 409 spaces – double the capacity of the Storrs Street garage that legislators are currently using which, even combined with the smaller one attached to the Legislative Office Building, isn’t enough to accommodate New Hampshire’s uniquely large state legislature.

The Storrs Street garage, built in 1975, was never meant to be permanent, according to the new contract, and was already “rapidly deteriorating” by 1989. Despite repairs over the years, Arlinghaus said it won’t be structurally sound for much longer. Lawmakers have been talking about parking improvements since at least the 1960s.

Once the new one is constructed, the Storrs Street garage will be demolished, freeing up key real estate that city leaders have eyed for the next phase of development in downtown Concord. The entire project – including construction of the new garage, razing the Department of Justice building to make way for it, and tearing down the Storrs Street garage once it’s no longer in use – is on track to stay within its $25 million budget.

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, or send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.