Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200, Go Directly To MGM Springfield Free Parking

Parking will be free inside the 3,400-space parking garage at the new MGM Springfield when it finally opens.

The garage is still under construction. It remains unclear if it will open when the MGM Springfield Massachusetts gaming resort does on Aug. 24, 2018.

However, MGM Springfield spokesman Saverio Mancini told MassLive parking in the garage will be free for casino patrons and anyone else who comes to downtown Springfield:

“It’s an exciting time for downtown Springfield. In the coming weeks, we look forward to providing the public the details about how to access our property, including our free parking.”

Mancini also said an official opening date for the seven-story parking garage at Union Street and East Columbus Avenue will soon be announced.

MGM hired New York’s Tishman Construction and local partners Fontaine Bros. Inc. to build the MGM Springfield parking garage in May of 2016.

The $960 million MGM Springfield

The $960 million MGM Springfield resort casino is scheduled to open Aug. 24. The two-million-square-foot development combines new construction with revived historic buildings across three city blocks in downtown Springfield.

MGM Springfield will be Massachusetts’ second commercial casino. Plainnville’s Plainridge Park Casino became the first when Penn National Gaming opened it back in 2015.

The $2.4 billion Encore Boston Harbor (formerly Wynn Boston Harbor) will become the third when it opens in Everett in 2019.

The state’s first Indian casino is currently being built by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Its $1 billion First Light Resort & Casino will open in Taunton later this year.

When MGM Springfield does open, it will be New England’s first integrated luxury resort, casino and entertainment destination.

Property features will include:

• A boutique-style 252-room five-story hotel
• A 125,000-square-foot casino with 2,550 slot machines and 120 gaming tables
• Celebrated chef restaurants
• An 8,000-seat MassMutual Center concert venue
• A Topgolf Swing Suite
• An eight-screen luxury cinema complex
• A ten-lane bowling center
• An 8,000-square-foot pool on a terraced rooftop garden
• A total of 55,000 square feet of retail space, including a New England town common-style open-air plaza

Parking in downtown Springfield

Construction caused the loss of more than 500 parking spaces in downtown Springfield. However, the situation was remedied by allowing the bones of the parking garage to be used as a parking area for construction workers. Plus, a program funded by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission offered free valet parking in the area.

Free parking inside the new garage will help fulfill MGM Springfield’s promise to ease the demand on downtown Springfield’s other parking options.

Somewhat ironically, MGM Resorts International properties in Las Vegas started charging parking fees in 2016. Other Las Vegas Strip casinos have followed suit. However, MGM Resorts raised fees this year, making parking fees at it’s higher-end Las Vegas properties, including Bellagio, Aria and Vdara, among the most expensive in that city.