Free Public Parking Near Ames Center: Heart of the City Ramp Burnsville

 Parking for a Downtown That Didn't Exist Yet

The Heart of the City parking ramp was born with the downtown itself. When the Grand Market Place development broke ground on August 1 — 76 owner-occupied townhomes, 108 rental units, 48,000 square feet of office and retail, and a culinary school at Nicollet and Burnsville Parkway — the plans included a structured parking ramp from the start.

The Metropolitan Council's case study puts it plainly: for a suburban community, sustaining downtown density requires structured parking. The ramp was developed in partnership with the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority and backed by a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant, with a simple mission — give visitors easy, free access to the events, shops, and services of the new downtown.

🅿️ TODAY — The Free Ramp That Does Triple Duty

The municipal ramp at 126th Street and Pillsbury Avenue holds 370 spaces and remains free public parking — a genuine rarity this close to a downtown theater district. It sits a few blocks from the Ames Center and Nicollet Commons Park, making it the go-to free lot for shows, the Winter Lighting Ceremony, and downtown dining.

But it quietly does two more jobs: since 2018, MVTA has used it as overflow for the Burnsville Transit Station when the main ramp fills, and since December 2021 it has served as the park-and-ride for the METRO Orange Line's Burnsville Heart of the City station. MVTA now counts it as one of its two official Burnsville park-and-rides, both with indoor climate-controlled waiting areas.

That's the elegant part of the story: a parking structure built for shoppers and theatergoers became, without any new construction, a transit hub too. The ramp the suburb built for its downtown now serves the downtown, the commuters, and the region — all for free.