As the first Austin Community College building to achieve a sustainability rating of any kind, the Three-Star
Rated Rio Grande Campus Parking Garage and Bookstore marks the beginning of a new, more
environmentally-sensitive direction at ACC. Faced with only 325 surface parking spaces to serve over
7,000 students on their landlocked downtown campus, ACC hired Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects
and SpawGlass Contractors to design and construct a garage that would provide desired parking and
retail space, blend in with the historic campus architecture, and show sensitivity to the eclectic
surrounding neighborhood. Originally targeting a Two-Star rating, the project team worked together to exceed
this goal, earning Three Stars and completing the project in time for the start of the Fall 2009 semester.