The $4.7 million parking lot will be a conversion from a surface lot that has sat empty since 2009. Elizabethton has been told by the Downtown Alliance that the conversion of the lot will boost the number of visitors to downtown Elizabethton and the downtown businesses by 10 to 15 percent, according to the Downtown Alliance. 

Parking lot lighting services were expected to be in place by the beginning of November, and then the lot could be open to the public on November 15.