Three stories beneath the street's surface, an empty cavern awaits a useful life.

It's the level of the Railyard parking garage that is farthest from the entrance, and on a recent weekday afternoon, not one car occupied a space there. Other areas of the garage remained more populated, but even the busier first level was not filled to capacity.

The city's newest underground parking garage is not seeing as much action as officials hoped. That's leading to speculation about how long it will take for Santa Fe's Railyard to draw more visitors.

Providing the Railyard's 400-space parking garage and 500 surface parking spaces put the city Parking Division about $14 million in the hole. Revenue from meters and the garage was supposed to help repay that loan.

So far, the plan is not working. After six months, the parking operations in the Railyard have only earned about a quarter of the amount expected for the year.

"All that money that we are behind is because the Railyard build-out did not go as planned," said Bill Hon, division director.

While some buildings in the Railyard are complete and fully functioning — such as the teen center, clay studio, performance space and REI — other plans have not come together yet. At least four restaurants are on the way, developers say, and retail spaces and offices are also slated to be completed and occupied this spring and summer. But the economic downturn is slowing other projects, causing revenues to fall short of the city's estimates.

"We knew it would take a period of time for all the buildings to get done because that is the nature of how these projects go," said Richard Czoski, director of the nonprofit that manages the Railyard for the city. "And when the financial crunch hit last fall, that exacerbated everything. We were all thinking that the cinema would have been further along, and obviously it's not."

Eventually, Czoski said, employees of new offices in the Railyard and people going to restaurants or the movie theater will fill the garage.

"So (the city's) projections are probably reasonable once the project is built out, but to expect all that to occur on day one was a little optimistic," he said.

The upper levels of three new Railyard buildings are slated to hold offices as soon as next month. They include Bioneers, which will move into the Farmers Market top floor next month; QForma, a software company that will occupy the Truro Building at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Calle de la Familia; and an unnamed nonprofit that is looking at part of the top floor of the Market Station building where REI and other retail spaces are located.

Market Station developer Rick Jaramillo said he and his partners are working hard to get their building fully open. Of the 15 spaces available, most are leased and should be ready for business this year.

One much-anticipated arrival will be Flying Star, an Albuquerque-area restaurant chain that has been promising a Santa Fe location for years. On Friday, work continued in the restaurant's future home, which already sports its characteristic bright interior. Hiring is under way, and the restaurant expects to serve food on May 4, Jaramillo said.

"We are committed to the plans to get this place to be lively," he said, noting that two other restaurants are planned for the building, one on the top floor and another that will serve fine wine and cheeses on the ground floor.

Meanwhile, the Farmers Market is also inching toward announcing a new tenant, a restaurant that will be across the Railyard Plaza from Flying Star, said Sarah Noss, director of the market's fundraising arm.

All that means more traffic in the Railyard and more revenues for the garage. It will just take time, Jaramillo said.

"Garages don't make money until you pay them off," he said. "In year 15, that will be a cash cow. And of course you need to have the elements of the development to make the garage possible."

Jaramillo and his partners at Railyard LLC, Steve Duran and Allen Branch, are also supposed to deliver a movie theater on the land next to Market Station. But the long-sought theater isn't yet under construction. While Maya Cinemas is still planning to operate the theater, Jaramillo said, the project has been delayed indefinitely because of financing problems.

In addition to all the shiny new facilities, the Railyard is home to some businesses that have been there for a long time. Santa Fe Clay, for example, started in the 1970s.

Business owner Avra Leodas is among the outspoken critics of the pace of the Railyard development. As the City Council prepares to consider a plan to restructure parking rates on weekends, Leodas is leading a charge to again ask for free parking there. She says paid parking in the still-under-construction environment has turned away patrons of her clay studio and potential customers for a gallery.

"Free parking in the Railyard is what I want," she said Friday, but noted her repeated requests are going unheard by the City Council. "They can't hear me. They have to pay for their garage. But don't take it out on my hide, and don't take it out on my customers' hide."

The Farmers Market is also concerned about a proposal to restructure the weekend parking rate, which puts some users in awkward situations.

Currently, customers pay $1 to park between 6 a.m. and noon on Saturdays and Sundays, and $2 to park between noon and 6 p.m. on those days. A lunchtime shopper who arrives at 11:30 a.m. must pay $1 and then return to his or her vehicle in a half-hour to pay another $2. The proposed change — slated for public hearings this month and next — would set a flat $2 rate to park from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on those days.

Noss said she opposes the idea because people who only come to shop at the Farmers Market, which closes at noon, will also have to pay the $2, double what they pay now.

"We understand that everybody is having financial constraints due to the economy and other things, but we want to be proactive to try to bring more activity to the Railyard," she said, noting that next month's plans include a Sunday "community fair" that will bring local artists and craftspeople and other New Mexico farmers to the area.

"There is a part of me that wishes there will be a little more patience so things can start to really happen down here. We have not even had a full season here yet," she said.

Hon said the Railyard parking can and will function as it was designed, and in the meantime, the department can make up the lost revenue through reserves.

"I think it's going to level out," he said. "As use increases over there, it will increase the numbers of users at the parking facilities."

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

Moving in
Planned openings at the Santa Fe Railyard include:

May
Bioneers, top floor of Farmers Market, offices for sustainability advocates
LewAllen Galleries, ground floor of Truro building, art galleries
QForma, top floor of Truro building, medical software developers
Flying Star, south end of Market Station building, restaurant
Go Wireless, Market Station, Verizon dealer

July
Bar 132, Market Station, wine and cheese bar
Doghouse, Market Station patio, outdoor seasonal bar/restaurant

September/October
Ring Side Entertainment Grill & Bowl, top floor of Market Station, restaurant, bar and sports activities
Urban Zen Health & Fitness, top floor of Market Station, yoga studio and gym
R & R Gallery, Market Station, artist Rob Rael

The city-owned track-side land is the site of a major redevelopment project that celebrated a “grand reopening” last fall. It is divided into two sections: The main section is the north Railyard that touches Guadalupe Street and Paseo de Peralta just west of downtown; further south lies the Baca Street portion, where new streets and parking add to a commercial district off Cerrillos Road.

Tenants have signed long-term ground leases on every available spot in the North Railyard while about 20 percent of the Baca Street leasable parcels are still available, according to the Railyard Community Corporation, a nonprofit that manages the property.

For more information, log on to www.railyardsantafe.com.