Why parking is changing at a Miami hospital, and how it could affect you (2025)

Garage renovations have made parking a challenge at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Parts of Jackson’s garages are shut down here and there for repairs, leaving fewer parking spaces available for patients, visitors and workers. But some relief may be on the way.

As the renovation of two garages nears the finish line, Jackson Health plans to strike a deal with Miami Dade College to rent employee parking spaces inside a nearby garage to help ease parking problems.

The move comes as Jackson expects to start renovations on two other parking garages this year on its shared campus with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Here’s what to know:

What’s changing with Jackson Health parking?

Two parking garages will have their repairs completed by the end of the year as renovations start at Jackson’s two other garages. The renovations are part of a county-mandated 30-year recertification process to ensure buildings are structurally safe.

The expected timeline:

▪ Ongoing repairs at the Red Garage, 901 NW 17th St, are expected to be completed in May, according to the health system. Red Garage is next to Holtz Children’s Hospital and is across from UHealth’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Jackson Memorial, Ryder Trauma Center and the Miami Transplant Institute are also nearby.

▪ Repairs at the Green Garage, 1140 NW 16th St., are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Green Garage is across from the grassy area on Jackson’s campus where food trucks often set up, and is a short walk from the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. It’s also near a Metrorail station and the future site of Jackson’s affordable workforce housing complex.

▪ The Yellow Garage, 1801 NW Ninth Ave., which is across from Ryder Trauma and in the same building as the Miami Transplant Institute, will undergo repairs starting in the fall. Repairs will begin shortly after at the Blue Garage, 1001-1167 NW 19th St. next to the plot of land of a future Jackson ER that’s expected to be one of the largest in the nation.

Are the garages safe to park?

“It has been confirmed that the garages are structurally safe” for people to park in while repairs are underway, Jackson Health spokeswoman Krysten Brenlla said in an email to the Miami Herald.

What’s the Jackson-MDC parking deal?

The Public Health Trust, which governs Miami-Dade’s public hospital system, gave the green light Friday for Jackson to negotiate and finalize a parking deal with MDC.

Under the agreement, taxpayer-funded Jackson would rent 400 parking spaces from MDC’s neighboring medical campus for at least a year to “alleviate the significant parking shortage for Jackson employees” as the health system’s parking garages undergo repairs.

About half of Jackson’s more than 14,800 full-time employees work at the main Miami campus. The MDC garage parking spaces would be for Jackson workers only.

Jackson would pay the college $288,000 a year for 200 covered and 200 uncovered parking spaces, along with a one-time $6,300 set-up fee to get employee access cards and placards, according to a report sent to the Public Health Trust.

The MDC garage, 1000 NW Second Ave., is a short walk from Jackson’s Ryder Trauma Center and other health facilities, including the Miami Transplant Institute, Holtz Children’s Hospital and UHealth’s Bascom Palmer Institute.

Jackson workers can still park in Jackson’s four garages.

But it’s possible the new MDC parking option for employees will free spaces at Jackson’s four parking garages for patients. Patients should still be early for appointments to avoid traffic and parking delays.

This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 6:38 AM.