🔧 Michigan Plaza Garage - ParkChirp

Extremely difficult to find the entrance. I was circling around on lower level streets in the area before I saw signs pointing to the entrance. I've parked in the lower level garages in the area before and they were not that difficult to find. Do not recommend unless you know how to find the entrance.

Cheapest parking spot by miles in the region; but it’s because the spot is very hard to access and requires either good knowledge of downtown Chicago’s lower streets or in depth research in advance to avoid confusion. You have to go down two floors straight by accessing the lower streets through East South Water st.. Michigan Plaza’s own explanation could help as well. Once you do park though it’s a big building that’s accessible on foot.

As an experienced and talented Chicago driver, I would say that this garage is technically findable but I would strongly recommend parking anywhere else, similarly to the other reviewers. Spothero gives you incorrect directions I would recommend using Wacker to get to the lower level streets. Once you’re on the lower level, Google/Apple maps will not help you. From there you can bang a Right on water and right on Columbus right on lake. It’s confusing because some of these streets have an L shape which does not correspond to the shape of the street on street level but you’re staying on that same street. The addresses on the lower streets are confusing because many buildings will have multiple street addresses and you may not be on the street you’re actually seeing the buildings address on. I.e 325 Lower N Michigan is not actually 1 block away away from 225 Lower N Michigan, (even tho it is on the street level) it’s actually like a 10-15 minute walk because it requires going East towards the Lake, South, then back West There are some signs for Michigan Plaza Garage that you can follow. If you find any of these, you can find the garage My 1 star review comes from the fact that I could not re enter the pedestrian entrance that I came from when I left my car. The pedestrian entrance is what you see on the google maps location (there’s an elevator that exits to Lake). Because this was locked in the middle of the day, I had to walk down the stairs for the water street metra, walk nearly a mile underground, pretend to be a car and wait for a car to pull up so I could walk in the garage. Would not recommend this walk especially for anyone late at night or by yourself I’d also note that there are multiple underground levels and this is on the lowest It’s also set up for Valet parking (3 rows of cars together) so if I were parking over night or at a crowded time, I’d worry about getting blocked in

Frustrating and Miserable Experience with This Parking Spot Our experience with this parking spot booked through SpotHero was nothing short of a nightmare. Despite the promise of a reserved space, we wasted over an hour circling the area more than six times, desperately trying to find an entrance that simply didn’t seem to exist. The one entrance that was clearly visible to the public had a big, bold sign declaring it closed. Beyond that, there was no indication, signage, or any helpful hints on where we were supposed to go. It felt like trying to find Platform 9¾ from Harry Potter—but without the magic. Here, there was no hidden entrance to discover, just sheer frustration and confusion. After wasting so much time, patience, and fuel, we finally had to give up and find another parking spot elsewhere. The entire ordeal was stressful and infuriating, completely ruining the start of our plans. This place is the definition of poorly managed, and SpotHero should seriously reconsider listing it unless the access issues are fixed. If you value your time and sanity, steer clear of this spot!

It's true: finding this place is not the most straightforward endeavor in the world. However, my partner and I were able to do it in about 10 minutes. We are not from Chicago, and we merely followed the directions on SpotHero. It's cheaper than nearby garages, too. Now, the downsides: inside, it looks like the garage was set up for valet parking because many spots are arranged such that cars in front will block and trap cars in back; this is fine if the valet can move cars around, but it's not great for self parking.