Clemson University is set to begin constructing a $80 million, six-level parking garage to address campus growth and parking demands. Scheduled for completion in fall of 2027, the facility will accommodate 1,200 cars and feature a pedestrian bridge, transit hubs and tiered plazas. Former Executive VP Tony Wagner spearheaded project approvals, ensuring the design meets both practical and aesthetic needs.
Clemson University render
An architect rendering of Clemson University’s pedestrian bridge with six-story parking facility on left.
Clemson University will soon begin a major $80 million construction project that is expected to alleviate the South Carolina school's parking problems. It will be the university's first on-campus parking garage when it opens in just over two years.
Clemson's Board of Trustees provided initial approval in October 2023 for the design and construction of a multi-level facility in the C-2 parking lot at the corner of Williamson and Perimeter roads.
The proposed building will be located central to the rest of the sprawling campus near the new Nieri Family Alumni and Visitors Center and will provide high-density parking for students, faculty, staff, alumni, visitors, athletic functions and young people taking campus tours.
According to the Seneca Journal on May 6, 2025, through its online site UpstateToday.com, construction fences were installed the day before in the C-2 parking lot ahead of the work — planned to begin in May or June 2025 — with a completion date set for the fall of 2027 when the garage and an accompanying pedestrian bridge are slated to open.
Nearby Nu Street will be available for parking during garage construction, according to the university.
Clemson's Growth Dictated the Project's Need
Current plans call for a 432,000-sq.-ft., six-level parking structure with 1,200 spaces. Per university documents, the garage's pedestrian bridge will provide direct access across Williamson Road to Clemson's core campus. It also will have elevators and parking access technology.
The future parking facility also will feature two entrances at level one and level four, on-grade pedestrian entrances at levels 1-4 with the pedestrian bridge at level five, two transit hubs to enable transportation directly adjacent to the site and tiered plazas that will connect the structure to the surrounding area.
The construction's timeline calls for work to begin on the pedestrian bridge's foundations in the autumn of 2026, with crews starting to build the bridge deck itself during Clemson's 2026 winter break, according to the university.
Former Clemson Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Tony Wagner previously said the university had been considering the need for a parking garage for quite a while as the school continued to grow, according to UpstateToday.com. He noted an earlier parking study that suggested the time was right for a new facility.
"The university parking system is fully utilized as of 2023 with an anticipated enrollment growth rate of 2 percent annually," according to Clemson documents from two years ago. "It is anticipated that future facility construction, including classrooms, laboratories, housing and campus amenities will displace [the] existing, centrally-located parking supply, further pressuring [the] parking supply."
Wagner, who announced in February 2025 that he was leaving Clemson to accept a leadership role at the University of Utah, explained in 2023 that his team was meeting with the Tigers athletics department to discuss tailgating plans, which is why part of the university's budget is to have the garage be "structurally built so that it can handle as much tailgating" as possible on game days.
Wagner Shepherded Project Through Approval Process
The Clemson board of trustees was given design updates on the school's parking garage at an April 2024 meeting shortly before the board approved the project's first phase — the design and construction of a six-level parking facility.
At the trustees' finance and facilities committee meeting, Wagner said the garage was in 30 percent schematic design at that time. While the specifics vary for each project, he added, phase one typically aims to lay out the major design elements and establish a cost and timeline. During this phase, university officials have the opportunity to review the "base layer" or "big picture" version of the drawings.
Phase one‘s project budget totals $1.185 million, which will be paid for by parking improvement funds.
While giving an update last year to the board of trustees, Wagner displayed a rendering of the planned parking garage and pointed out various design elements.
"That facade there, the technical name for that is a scrim," he said. "Scrims are one option for how you screen a parking garage. Ventilation is a big deal in parking garages, so that's part of what they're thinking about. We will bring our designs back to the board and make sure that the first parking garage we build on main campus is one that we can all be proud of."
Phase two of the new Clemson project was OK'd by its board of trustees in July 2024.
According to the university, as the new building project progresses, its transit bus stops will remain in their current locations. The existing bus stop on Nu Street will still service the purple route, and the stop on Williamson Road will also continue to function; however, its shelter will be moved to service the Nu Street stop.
Also, the new green route (a campus connector) will stop at the Williamson Road bus stop to help connect the Clyde V. Madren Center and the Nieri Family Alumni and Visitors Center to Clemson's main campus.
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