L.A. has a new love affair with parking garages.

During the first seven months of 2005, $165 million worth of parking garage construction was under way, compared with $80 million for the like period last year, according to the Construction Industry Research Board.

For commercial structures, there was a four-fold increase in the amount of parking garage construction. “When there’s not a lot of land available and you want to build a new building or expand an existing one, surface parking lots just aren’t an option. You have to build a parking garage,” said Ben Bartolotto, research director for the Construction Industry Research Board.

Bartolotto pointed to 3,400 spaces of new parking structures at the Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga Plaza mall near Topanga Canyon and Victory boulevards. (About 700 spaces have been completed in one structure, another 700 are now under construction, and a 2,000-space garage is on tap for next year.) The center itself is being expanded over hundreds of surface lots spaces, so the only option is to build a parking garage.

In other areas, especially downtown, surface parking lots are being sold off for development. That results in more parking garage construction.

“Not only are you taking away parking spaces from surface lots, but as you build more buildings, that also increases demand for parking,” said Ron Saxton, principal with International Parking Design, a parking consulting firm.

As for residential parking garages, the value of construction during the first seven months of the year rose 19 percent from the like period a year earlier, to $67.2 million.

“Along with the boom we’re seeing in multi-family development comes the need for more parking garages,” said Jeff Okyle, vice president of business development at parking lot operator Standard Parking. Okyle noted that most city codes require parking structures usually underground for new multi-family buildings.