West Loop street parking will cost you starting in 2020

Used to free or cheap parking in the West Loop? Forget it.

You don’t have much longer to enjoy those luxuries. Starting as early as Jan. 2, parking rates at existing metered spaces will more than double from $2 per hour to $4.50.

And soon after, possibly this spring, it’ll cost you $4.50 per hour to leave your car on tons of other blocks as the city plans to install dozens of new meters on streets that currently have free parking.

Though the mayor’s office said as recently as Monday that the changes would come Jan. 1, the city’s finance department clarified later that same day that it could take weeks or months to implement the new rules even though the law goes in effect at the start of the year.

For West Loop residents and visitors, that could mean a gradual change this spring from free street parking to $4.50-an-hour metered parking.

The city plans to start by installing new meters in the busy commercial area around Halsted and Randolph streets, but that might not happen until March. From there, installation could trickle west through the West Loop, though the city could collaborate with residents and community groups on exactly when and where to keep adding meters.

If feedback is negative on the new meters, expansion through the neighborhood could slow or come to a halt. Either way, the finance department still plans to take in its expected amount of parking revenue in the West Loop by the end of the fiscal year.

The changes are part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget, which calls for generating $7 million in annual revenue by raising parking meter rates across the city for the first time since 2013.

In the nearer future, streets in the West Loop that already have meters will see their prices jump from $2 per hour to $4.50.

Parking fees for all the metered spaces in the neighborhood will be in effect from 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Sunday.

A couple dozen other blocks are also being converted to residential permit parking only, including a long stretch along the north side of Monroe Street, from Ogden to Morgan.

Other new, increased rates around the city are:

• $7 an hour, up from $6.50, in the Central area that includes the downtown theater district, Millennium Park and the Art Institute.

• $4.50 an hour, up from $4, in a broader area that stretches from North Avenue to Roosevelt Road and from Lake Michigan to Halsted Street.

• $4.50-an-hour, up from $2, in the area bounded by Grand and Ashland avenues, and Van Buren and Halsted streets.