TAMPA - Parking at Channelside Bay Plaza could become more plentiful by late summer of next year under a proposal to add up to 900 spaces to the port authority's 2,500-space parking garage.

Port officials previewed an expansion plan Tuesday for the garage that serves cruise passengers and patrons of the Channelside entertainment district.

Construction costs would be about $7 million for a four-story addition on port property adjacent to and west of the garage along Channelside Drive, the port authority staff estimated.

Port authority commissioners could consider bids by July if all goes smoothly in working out details for the type of contract proposal that would best suit the project, port director Richard Wainio said.

The project could get under way in August and take a year to complete, port officials said.

"We can get double the number of spaces in the addition if we use it for valet parking, where you might double-park cars," Wainio said, explaining how the small parcel could accommodate up to 900 vehicles.

The expansion would help relieve the loss of 363 uncovered, surface parking spaces adjacent to the Channelside entertainment complex. Those include valet parking spaces that will be lost when a nearby Byrd Corp. condominium project gets under way, which port officials said could begin this year.

The expanded parking garage also will help fill increased demand for Channelside parking on weekends and for St. Pete Times Forum events, officials said.

"It's a growing area, and parking is one of the dynamic components," said Christine Burdick, president of the Downtown Tampa Partnership.

"Often on weekends, the garage gets full when people come from all over the area to use the entertainment district," she said.

Burdick said any advance in parking is a welcome development for an issue that has been in discussion for more than a year.

Wainio emphasized that garage expansion plans are in a preliminary stage. One thought might be to use the ground floor of the expansion for a staging area for trucks that serve cruise ships. The area where the trucks now park also would be lost when the Byrd Corp. condominium project gets under way, officials said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.