Shoop Public Parking Ramp (Racine, Wisconsin)

The Shoop Public Parking Ramp is a parking ramp located at 226 Main Street in downtown Racine, Wisconsin, between State Street, Main Street, 3rd Street, and Wisconsin Avenue. The ramp opened in 1986 as part of a neighborhood redevelopment effort, in which four commercial buildings were demolished to build it. It is named for the historic Shoop Building next door, which was redeveloped into an office building as part of the same project. The ramp is also connected to the restaurant building at 230 Main Street, allowing diners to reach their cars without going outside.

History
In February 1983, the Downtown Racine Redevelopment Corporation announced that it was considering a plan to convert the Shoop Building into offices, and demolish nine commercial buildings on the same block to build a parking lot for the new office building. Johnson Redevelopment Corporation, an arm of S.C. Johnson and Son, agreed to lead the project, as well as developing the Main Place office complex on the other side of Main Street. In December 1983, Johnson Redevelopment purchased the Shoop Building and six of the neighboring buildings, at 216, 218, 220, 224, 228, and 230 Main Street, two of which were occupied by businesses at the time of the sale. The first four of these buildings were demolished by Johnson Redevelopment in 1984.

In February 1985, Johnson Redevelopment sold the combined properties, totaling 14300 sqft in area, to the city of Racine for $140,000. The city agreed to build a $1.6 million public parking ramp with 220 parking spaces on the site. Construction on the parking ramp began on October 1, 1985. The ramp was opened with a dedication ceremony on September 21, 1986.

On the morning of September 9, 2011, a man experiencing mental health issues threatened to jump from the roof of the parking ramp, requiring the closure of surrounding roads. After two hours of negotiations, Racine police convinced the man not to jump and brought him into custody.