Butler Health System has knocked down five houses along East Brady Street as part of a project to expand parking at Butler Memorial Hospital. Two new lots are expected to be ready by the end of June.

Butler Health System is expanding parking at its Butler Memorial Hospital campus to address persistent shortages of space throughout the hospital's current 1,000-space lot system.

Mark Edwards the risk manager and safety officer at BHS, said that the project on East Brady Street around the road's intersection with Fourth Street will add two parking lots and a total of 82 spaces to BMH's campus. Edwards said the lots will be open to the public but are intended to be used for staff parking, which will free up parking spots closer to the hospital for patients and visitors.

As part of the project, which is expected to be complete by the end of June, Edwards said the system knocked down five houses located between 910 and 934 East Brady Street. The houses had been owned by BHS “for a very long time,” he said.

Edwards said the hospital has struggled with parking shortages for years. Officials moved some staff parking off-campus in an effort to mitigate the issue, but the shortage has persisted and is especially problematic in the middle of the week and during the middle of the day.