Amway parking lot downtown Grand Rapids.jpg

The large Amway Hotel Corp.-owned parking lot kitty-corner to The B.O.B. is getting some attention online, where itas advancing on a transportation news siteas tongue-in-cheek aParking Madnessa bracket.

(Garret Ellison | MLive)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Um, our parking crater is showing.

The large Amway Hotel Corp.-owned parking lot kitty-corner to The B.O.B. is getting some attention online, where it's advancing on a transportation news site's "Parking Madness" bracket. The tongue-in-cheek contest is highlighting the most egregious "parking craters" in U.S. cities.

Grand Rapids is apparently competing with Salt Lake City, Utah, for a spot in the StreetsBlog USA's “Elite Eight” bracket. Blogger Angie Schmitt writes the contest seeks to measure “eternal parking infamy.”

The site, which advocates for pedestrian-oriented transportation policies, champions the term “parking crater” to describe large surface parking lots that occupy prime real estate in urban centers.

Grand Rapids, with a 50-some vote lead, seems likely to advance.

Historically, the lot in question has been marked for surface parking since well before the 1960s, when urban renewal planners began re-drawing downtown traffic routing to accommodate new U.S. 131 and I-196 traffic.

According to city tax records, Amway bought the lot from Plaza Towers Associates in 2006 for $10.3 million. Today, the lot, located at 41 Market Ave. SW, is mostly used for downtown employee parking. Amway paid more than $11,000 in city taxes on the property in 2013.

Garret Ellison covers business, government and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram