parking garages

Snow and Ice Handling Tips for Parking Structures

by Deena S. Hawkins on February 8, 2022

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Chemical de-icers and snow plows are commonly used in the winter to remove dangerous ice and snow from patios and parking structures. While de-icers melt snow and ice, some can actually corrode the concrete and reinforcing steel of the parking structure, and some snow removal techniques can actually do more damage than good.

Western Specialty Contractors, a company specializing in the restoration and maintenance of parking garages, offers several tips for grounds managers to minimize unnecessary damage to parking structures during the winter months and keep drivers safe.

Snow Removal Tips

Clearly mark expansion joints in a manner that will be visible to the equipment operator when the deck is covered in snow.

Establish a snow removal pattern so that the plow blade approaches expansion joints, control joints, and tee-to-tee joints at an angle no greater than 75 degrees.

Equip plow blades and bucket loaders with rubber shoes or guards that prevent direct contact with the deck surface.

Do not pile snow on the deck surface. Snow piles can exceed the rated load capacity and cause cracks in the surface of the concrete deck.

Defrosting/Salting Tips

The use of chemical de-icers to control ice and snow buildup is common. However, these chemicals can have a negative effect on concrete and reinforcing steel and should be used sparingly. There are several types of de-icers on the market that can be used, however, only those approved by the American Concrete Institute are recommended.

Sodium chloride (road salt, table salt): It is the most commonly used salt de-icer. It has little effect on concrete, but promotes corrosion of reinforcing steel and other metals. The use of this type of defroster is not recommended.

Calcium chloride: It is a major ingredient in most commercial de-icers. It has little effect on concrete, but promotes corrosion of reinforcing steel and other metals. The use of this type of defroster is not recommended.

Ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulphate: Use of this de-icer will cause severe concrete deterioration due to its direct chemical attack on the reinforcing steel. The use of this type of defroster is not recommended.

Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA): The effects of this de-icer are similar to those of salt, but it takes longer to melt the ice. It has no adverse effect on concrete or steel reinforcement. If a defroster is required, a CMA is recommended.

It is important to minimize the amount of de-icing chemical applied during the first two years of concrete installation. Meanwhile, the concrete has increased permeability which can allow de-icing chemicals to migrate into the concrete more quickly. As concrete ages and hardens, it will become less permeable and chemicals will not penetrate as easily.

It is important to remember that the use of de-icing chemicals in general is not recommended. The safest way to remove ice and snow is to use a snowplow. Sand can also be used to increase tire traction on the deck, but be sure to protect the drainage system when washing the deck after use.

For more information on restoring and maintaining parking garages, contact Western Specialty Contractors.

Following

Progress Street Parking Garage Remains in Blacksburg Plan | Government and politics

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 31, 2022

BLACKSBURG – The city is expected to make significant additions to its parking capacity over the next few years.

The parking lot at the site of the old Blacksburg Middle School downtown — the bridge is part of a roughly $26 million project that also includes a new police station — is expected to be completed this coming spring.

Blacksburg officials also plan to add another parking lot on Progress Street, which is on the city’s capital improvement program project list for fiscal years 2022-23 through 2026-27. City Council approved the slate in a 7-0 vote last week.

As noted on a city project sheet, the Progress Street parking deck will add to a downtown parking network that includes the soon-to-be-completed structure at the site of the old college and the North End and Kent Square parking garages.

The Progress Street Bridge is expected to cost $16.6 million and its construction schedule is expected to span between the summers of 2025 and 2028, according to the project document.

However, other details of the projects have yet to be fleshed out.

“As preliminary design is not expected to begin for three years, I cannot answer the specific questions you pose,” Deputy City Manager Chris Lawrence wrote in an email response to a reporter’s questions. from the Roanoke Times. “This will all be part of the feasibility study and detailed design work.

“As this is such a large project, the feasibility and preliminary design work is important and will help guide final decisions on scope, design, cost and final construction schedule.”

Funding for design and construction is limited to state-funded parking, according to the project brief.

“The possibility of other mixed uses and the associated design and construction costs would be pursued through a public/private partnership,” the project brief states. “Form and architectural aspects will also be considered with an emphasis on appropriate interaction with the surrounding neighborhood and Progress Street streetscape.”

The recently approved CIP includes a number of other important projects. These include community center renovations, the Brush Mountain trail system, the Huckleberry Trail bridge at Sheffield Drive and Price Fork Road, and the purchase of electric buses.

Parking garage

Portland parking lot reopens with new entrance and exit

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 28, 2022

Cars pull into the newly reconfigured parking lot at the Portland campus. Nora Devin / Director of photography

By: Meghan Carlisle, Personal editor

On January 18, the University of Southern Maine (USM) opened the newly reconfigured parking lot on the Portland campus.

This new development is an addition to the Portland campus development project. Parking is just part of the project’s mission to completely renovate the USM Portland campus. Additionally, a new Career and Student Success Center, Portland Commons Residence Hall, and a residential quad on the University of Southern Maine campus in Portland are in the works.

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer Alec Porteous and Associate Vice President of Operations Micheal Hudson developed the plan for the new parking garage.

Hudson said in an email that “The new parking lot will be placed on the surface parking footprint behind Wishcamper. It will have four floors and will contain 504 spaces for automobiles, six spaces for motorcycles and 250 parking spaces for bicycles. Among the car spaces, 58 will be equipped with sockets for recharging an electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle. The number of electric vehicle charging stations and bicycle parking spaces will raise the sustainability bar for parking garages in the Greater Portland area.

According to Hudson, the parking plan is designed to meet parking demand from residents of the new residence hall that will open on the Portland campus in the summer of 2023.

“It will also fill the lost parking void around the demolished Woodbury and Facilities Management buildings. These buildings have been demolished to make way for the new residence hall, new student career and success center, and new green quad, which will collectively serve as the heart of campus,” Hudson said.

The University of Southern Maine parking garage is located at 88 Bedford Street and is attached to the Abromson Community Education Center. The back faces I-295. Major changes have been made to the first and ground floors in preparation for the construction of a new car park, which is expected to begin in early spring. There is a new entrance and exit attached to the construction plans for the new parking garage. All traffic will now enter and exit on Surrenden Street, which is next to Bedford Street. Previously, it was only the entrance to the garage. The other two exits opening to the Wishcamper Center have been closed and sealed.

The new Portland campus parking lot entrance and exit. Nora Devin / Director of photography

By getting rid of the exit by Wishcamper, Hudson said, it’s to allow construction to begin this semester in that area. “There will be excavation, concrete pouring and erection of the building just outside this exit. Knowing that the exit should be closed, USM has set up an alternative exit during the winter break,” Hudson said.

With the new model, the way we navigate the parking lot and traffic is likely to change. All cars will enter the right hand lane on Surrenden Street and there will be two exit lanes right next to it. When entering and exiting the garage, the USM community is advised to proceed slowly in accordance with the new entry/exit door reconfiguration. Traffic is likely to slow during peak hours as people adjust to the new structure of the garage.

When entering the garage in a single lane, all cars will be directed to the right, which will open up to two lanes where the garage entrance doors have been moved. Drivers will need a current parking permit or can tap the screen for a ticket, to enter. As you follow the wayfinding signs, they will direct you either to park at the first level, upper level, and at ground level, or to the new exit doors.

To exit the garage, you will need to return to the side of the building entrance. As the other two exits no longer exist, there is reason to believe that traffic slowdowns will result. There will be two exit lanes on Surrenden St., allowing vehicles to turn right on Bedford St. to Forest Avenue or left on Bedford to Deering Avenue. New wayfinding panels have been added to help students and staff easily navigate the new system. They can be seen hanging from the top of the floors, painted on the ground or a physical sign.

The USM community is responsible for following signage information to avoid confusion or mishaps. There are detailed illustrated guides on the USM Parking Services website to make sure people know exactly where to go. Starting Tuesday, January 18, volunteer assistants will be dispatched throughout the garage during peak hours to help with the transition to the new traffic. This is reported to be in effect for at least a few days.

Regarding pedestrian safety, new crosswalks have been reconfigured in the garage. Staying within these guidelines and obeying the five mph speed limit is when safety will be at its highest. Pedestrians are not permitted to enter or exit through the Portland Parking Garage vehicle entry/exit doors. To enter on foot, you must enter and use the pedestrian lane and crosswalks on Level 1.

The parking lot is a busy area with students. With the ongoing construction of the Portland Campus Development Project, parking will be limited this spring semester. Updated parking areas that do not include the parking garage, in reference to the ongoing construction in Portland, are listed on the Parking Services Website. With the new updates to this parking lot, we hope there will be more parking spaces as USM returns in person.

Hudson also said the biggest changes coming will be the closure of the Wishcamper lot once construction begins there. Some areas will be fenced, including the grass between the existing car park and Bedford Street, against Abrosom. This is to allow storage of construction materials and trailers. “That work will begin during this spring semester,” Hudson said.

According to Hudson, the four-story parking garage will be located just 20 feet from the existing garage. This will provide one-way ground floor access for vehicles from the existing garage to the new garage. Where the main garage entrance will still be on Surrenden Street and the main exit will be on Winslow Street. It will be similar to how it worked last semester.

“However, there will be minor exits and entries in both areas for some users. More information about this traffic flow will be shared with the university community as the project progresses,” Hudson said.

Parking garage

Some Downtown Boise Parking Permit Prices May Rise

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 19, 2022

title=s — A car parks in the Ninth and Main parking lot in downtown Boise. It is one of Boise’s busiest parking lots, and usage has recently returned to pre-pandemic levels.

David Stats

[email protected]

Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, downtown Boise parking lot usage is finally close to where it was at the start of 2020.

Increased usage means parking rates may soon increase.

But don’t sweat yet. The hourly rate will remain at $3 and the first hour will always be free. The proposal from staff at Capital City Development Corp., Boise’s urban renewal agency, which owns and operates the six downtown ParkBoi garages, is primarily for monthly permits.

The proposal, which was presented to the agency’s board on Tuesday, includes a price increase of 5% to 10% for most monthly permits. At the Ninth and Main garage and the Capitol and Main garage – the two busiest parking garages in ParkBoi – the monthly permit rate would increase by 9%, from $175 per month to $190 per month. In these two garages, the hourly maximum on weekdays would increase from $15 to $20.

The monthly permit price for the 11th and front garage would increase by 25% from $100 to $125, but would still be the lowest priced permit available. Any other proposed increase in permit rate is 10% or less.

The proposal includes increasing the weekend daily maximum at all garages to $8 from $6.

page 55-page-001.jpg — This table shows the proposed price increases for ParkBoi Monthly Garage Permits. The Ninth and Main Garage and the Capitol and Main Garage are the two busiest in ParkBoi. Now that usage is back to pre-pandemic levels, the CCDC is considering raising parking prices. CCDC

page 56-page-001.jpg — This table outlines the proposed parking rate increases for ParkBoi parking garages in downtown Boise. The weekday maximum for hourly users could increase at ParkBoi’s two busiest garages. Utilization of these two garages (Ninth and Main Garage and Capitol and Main Garage) has exceeded pre-pandemic levels in recent months. CCDC

Potential price increases are expected to be reviewed by the board on March 14. The agency plans to launch an online survey this week at parkboi.com and keep it open until February 28. It also plans to inform customers and publish a public notice. before the March 14 meeting. If the rate increases are approved, they will take effect on May 1.

“We’re trying to employ demand-based pricing,” Parking and Mobility Manager Matt Edmond said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We like to say in the business world (that) parking can be convenient, cheap and/or available, but it can’t be all three. You basically have to choose two. Thus, the goal of rate adjustments is generally to target higher rates to maintain availability at these high-demand facilities and to direct some of that demand to areas where availability is generally not an issue.

The increases would also offset rising operating and maintenance costs and help pay for parking and mobility initiatives to improve the customer experience, Edmond said.

CCDC 9th-Main Parking Garage Spaces Available sign 12-9-19 IMG_3576 adjusted 403.jpg — Rates for monthly users of two of downtown Boise’s most popular parking garages, including the one at 9th and Main streets, could increase in May 2022 if proposed increases are approved by the Boise Board of Directors. municipal agency that operates the garages. David Stats [email protected]

Part of Edmond’s explanation for the price increases was to find a way to keep people away from the two most popular garages. The Ninth and Main Garage and the Capitol and Main Garages have filled up recently while other garages have more space available.

“Maximum daily users could potentially displace these people coming downtown for a very short period of time,” Edmond said.

From November 2019 to February 2020, the Ninth and Main Garage reached a peak occupancy rate of 89.4%. In November and December 2021, the garage was at 86%.

At the Capitol and main garage, peak occupancy hit 84.4% before the pandemic, down from 93.9% in the past two months.

A parking facility is generally considered to be at full capacity when 85% or more of its spaces are occupied, according to the agency.

page 12-page-001.jpg — This graph shows ParkBoi garage usage in downtown Boise each month from December 2019 through December 2021. After a steep decline at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, usage has returned to pre-COVID levels. pandemic in recent months. CCDC

The new proposal also provides an option for employers to pay for a number of parking spaces at any given time rather than a number of permits for individual users. Edmond said this is based on companies adopting hybrid models in which employees work from home part-time and in the office part-time. For example, instead of paying for 50 permits, an employer could pay for 25 places.

Edmond said his department was considering rate increases before March 2020, but those plans were “rendered moot” when the pandemic hit and garage usage plummeted.

The recovery has been slow, but agency statistics show that demand is about to return. Hourly revenue is around 80-85% where it was before the pandemic and overall garage inflows are around 90-95%. At the two busiest garages, usage exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 1% to 2%, Edmond said.

“It’s great to see our numbers are back,” said CCDC Board Chair Dana Zuckerman. “I hope this means businesses in downtown Boise are doing well. That’s what I read here.

page 18-page-001.jpg — This graph shows usage at ParkBoi’s Ninth and Main garage and Capitol and Main garage in downtown Boise. Usage in recent months has exceeded pre-pandemic levels. These are the two busiest garages in ParkBoi. CCDC

Parking garage

Columbia Begins Safety Upgrades at Fifth and Walnut Parking Lot

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 18, 2022

Construction began last week on stronger security barriers on the upper level of Columbia’s Fifth and Walnut municipal parking lot.

Calls for improved safety in the garage were rekindled after a suicide in September.

The city launched an expedited bidding process the same day as the suicide after Columbia City Council cleared the bidding in July.

The reason for the delay between the $300,000 credit at the end of 2020, the building permit and the tender was related to the COVID-19 pandemic, city spokesperson Sydney Olsen wrote to the Tribune in September.

“During the pandemic, supplies have been very limited for items like steel, making it difficult to get things like custom samples for this project,” she wrote. “The pandemic has also impacted the ability of project partners, such as engineers and the consulting firm, to travel to Colombia to view the structure and engage with the public.”

Following: City of Columbia receives bid to improve security at parking lot notorious for suicides

Construction is expected to take about three weeks, Public Works Department spokesman John Ogan wrote in an email Friday.

Wyatt Varner, an employee of Vienna's Central Fence LLC, fastens a barrier post on the ninth floor of the Fifth and Walnut municipal parking lot on Friday.

Building materials reached the city the first week of the new year.

Vienna’s Central Fence LLC was contracted for the roof fencing, Ogan wrote.

“The city is still considering its options for the window barrier phase of the project,” Ogan wrote.

The window barriers are part of a second phase of the security project.

“The city believes that barriers of this nature are a deterrent and a lifesaver, and that this fence will give people a chance to think twice,” Ogan wrote.

A barrier with a curved top to prevent people from climbing is installed around the ninth floor of the Fifth and Walnut municipal parking garage.

Following: Upper levels of Fifth and Walnut parking garage closed ahead of security upgrades

Jill Harkavy-Friedman, vice president of research for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, told much the same to the Tribune in 2019.

“We know people use what’s accessible,” she said at the time. “That’s the problem with something like parking garages. It’s a problem across the country. And that’s a problem with a relatively simple solution, which is gates or fences. Research shows that when you limit access to lethal means, you can save lives.

“…Barriers give time. It gives time for the crisis to slow down a bit so the person can think a bit more.”

Following: Petition renews calls for updated safety measures at Columbia’s Fifth and Walnut garage after recent suicide

Crisis Resources

There are a growing number of resources available for people experiencing a mental health crisis.

A national resource is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, which is always open and includes a specific option for veterans.

The Central Missouri Crisis Line is 1-800-395-2132, also monitored 24 hours a day.

Following: Burrell will house a temporary mental health crisis center at the Stephens Lake office

There are additional resources through the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri has developed a behavioral and mental health program that is expected to begin providing counseling by February.

“(Catholic Charities) wants to have a faith-informed provider who can combine traditional therapy with faith,” program director Dala Hemeyer said.

Following: Catholic Charities nears launch of behavioral health program serving central Missouri

The Oak Center celebrated its first anniversary last Tuesday. He uses dialectical behavior therapy to treat people who have frequent or recurrent suicide attempts and those who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

The center’s mission is to improve the “quality of life for our clients, their family members and the community by increasing access to evidence-based mental health treatment, education and resources”, indicates its website.

Following: The Oak Center, Columbia’s counseling service focused on helping suicidal clients, celebrates its first year

Burrell Behavioral Health will have a rapid response unit in place by July at its Stephens Lake office to respond to people in mental health crisis. This is a temporary solution as Burrell awaits decisions from the Columbia City Council on how he appropriates US bailout funds.

A proposal in the city budget would provide $3 million for a mental health center, like the one Burrell hopes to build in partnership with Phoenix Programs.

Burrell entered into a partnership with Preferred Family Healthcare to provide primary care services to its mental health patients in October. This partnership was finalized at the start of the year, under the new parent company Brightli.

Parking spaces

Clemson imposes new 15-minute parking spots downtown

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 14, 2022

By Greg Oliver

The newspaper

CLEMSON — Earlier this week, the city of Clemson reinstated all of its parking regulations that had been suspended for much of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Street parking, which had been extended from one hour to two hours, with all paid parking in garages free, is now limited to one hour, and those parking in city center car parks will be required to supply the meter .

A new parking sign in downtown Clemson tells visitors they can only stay 15 minutes.
EMILIE WILSON | THE NEWSPAPER

But the city also reminded residents to be on the lookout for new 15-minute street parking spots for anyone doing quick tasks, such as picking up orders. These spaces, all clearly marked with a sign in front of the space, were approved by Clemson City Council last year on the recommendation of the Economic Development Advisory Committee.

The resolution states that spaces will be permanently designated for 15-minute parking on a first-come, first-served basis 24 hours a day, with none to be used exclusively by a business or businesses or their suppliers, carriers, employees and / or customers. Rideshare drivers cannot perform pick-up and drop-off using the designated 15-minute parking spots or use the staging or waiting spaces.

The city’s community and economic development co-ordinator Lindsey Newton, who presented the resolution to council, said the spaces “give people access to downtown businesses, especially in a faster way.”

“Thanks to COVID, business models have fundamentally changed,” Newton said. “A year ago the curbside and curbside service – almost no one was offering it. I don’t think it was a problem a year and a half ago, but I don’t think it will change.

City Administrator Andy Blondeau said the city should probably consider hiring an additional parking attendant because of the change, as well as the new hotel being built downtown. Newton said the cost of an additional officer could come from revenue if metered parking spaces are placed downtown.

Newton said there are businesses along College Avenue and on Earle Street, North Clemson Avenue and Sloan Street “who want central space for their businesses.”

“They want it where their customers, their clients, their bosses, grab what they need and walk away,” she said.

Advice on new parking spaces

Councilor Catherine Watt said she felt the recommendation “is definitely reasonable”.

“I know older people who would love to have something downtown and don’t walk at the same pace as you or me, and they would definitely love to have those spaces,” Watt said.

Councilwoman Alesia Smith said adding 15-minute parking spaces “is a good idea.”

“It will help businesses and other members of our community who don’t have to drive around, look for parking and cause more traffic jams,” she said.

[email protected] | (864) 973-6687

Parking garage

Change and parking

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 6, 2022

One problem is never mentioned when people talk about their opposition to a new parking lot: the construction failure a year ago. This was reluctantly approved but “compromised” by Town Meeting. It was significantly watered down by shrinking the basement and cutting off the upper floors.

Approximately $ 300,000 was added to the cost of reinforcing the structure “just in case.“ they decided to add higher floors at a later date. Then the parking spaces in the new ‘garage’ on the ground floor were distributed, benches were added to create a park vibe to satisfy those who thought parking garages were ugly, and even added an art showcase for changing art exhibitions.

The quiet residential streets near the city center were lined with parking meters and parked cars. The anti-garage citizens were content and the battle was over.

This quasi-garage, built in a central downtown location owned by the city, settled the issue, but it was a major push in the exodus of downtown businesses. Even though businesses came in after that, they couldn’t sustain growth without people filling the sidewalks. This answers the question of why there is no shortage of parking spaces: so many businesses have left that there is almost nothing to come downtown except to eat at student hangouts, the Amherst cinema and library. A remaining bookstore, Hastings and a few stores struggle to keep their shoppers and customers, while those with short memories denounce the idea of filling a need in order to find a bustling city center.

Some people seem desperate that Amherst is changing, but having arrived in town over 50 years ago, I can attest that the change was happening and will continue as long as we live. . And have you ever seen anyone sitting on the benches of this “garage”?

Audrey Child

Amherst

Parking garage

Downtown parking garage to reopen Thursday after structural repairs

by Deena S. Hawkins on December 29, 2021

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The parking lot in downtown Clarksville is slated to reopen Thursday morning, according to city spokesperson Linda Gerron.

The parking garage, located at the corner of Second and Commerce streets, was closed in July after a routine inspection revealed structural problems.

An inspection by TRC Worldwide Engineering revealed cracks in the concrete slabs at the column level above the slab and cracks at the bottom of the slab at mid span in both directions.

The city is expected to release more details about work on the garage tomorrow.

Gerron told Clarksville Now the garage will open “first thing in the morning.”

The new garage is moving forward

The city continues to express its intentions for an additional garage downtown. According to city project manager John Hillborn, the new garage will be a joint city and county project, although planning is still underway.

Hillborn told Clarksville Now that the city hopes to send out requests for proposals for the new garage within the next 60 days, after which it can select a supplier.

Parking garages are incredibly expensive projects, according to city officials. At a recent Economic Development Board meeting, EDC CEO Buck Dellinger estimated that a 600-space garage would cost $ 18 million.

Parking garage

City plans to temporarily halt construction of Miami’s ‘deepest’ underground parking lot

by Deena S. Hawkins on November 17, 2021

MIAMI – Miami building officials have decided to halt construction of the city’s “deepest” underground parking lot for a comprehensive engineering assessment after a series of groundwater violations and complaints from affected Brickell residents.

On Tuesday, an aerial view of the evacuation site showed water accumulation in another section of the cavernous pit where water bubbled to the surface on Friday in a second breach.

A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Regulatory and Economic Resources Department said Tuesday that water “will continue to enter the site” until they repair “what is known as the trench seal. “. They said it was an operational issue rather than an environmental violation.

City construction officials have said Friday’s violation is expected to be capped tomorrow and at that time they will issue a stop work order on the project and bring in three engineers to assess the impact, if any, of the project on surrounding properties.

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This will include a geotechnical engineer, a structural engineer and a seismic testing engineer. Miami commissioner Ken Russell said this was being done as a precautionary measure and the building department would cover the engineering costs as the three engineers will report their findings to the city.

Related story: Construction next to a Brickell condo causes safety concerns

Mandy Karnauskas lives in the Brickell Townhouse, next to the Una Residences under construction. She said the second upwelling at Una occurred a day after her management company emailed them saying their structural engineer claimed their property was being impacted by the first breach at the construction site. construction in October.

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The management company claimed that the project caused soil erosion, which caused the brick pavers to move from their tiki hut area.

“We see the ground shift, part of our property is sinking and our little tiki picnic huts start to collapse,” Karnauskas said.

Ant Yapi Civic Construction, general contractor of Una Residences, said “our team is correcting these leaks as they occur, and there is no evidence of impacts to surrounding properties. “.

Related story: Will Miami’s Deepest Underground Garage Cause Biscayne Bay Problems?

Following a “breach in the soil mix” causing underground water to rise in the cavernous footprint of Miami’s “deepest” underground parking lot on a luxury condo construction site in #Brickell @kenforflorida + County water inspectors focused on protecting the bay. pic.twitter.com/3eRNYFU4ZD

– Christina Boomer Vazquez (@CBoomerVazquez) 21 October 2021

“I think it’s a really good idea to take a break and check on the situation,” said Shimon Wdowinski, of the Institute of the Environment at Florida International University.

Wdowinski is an expert in land subsidence, sea level rise, sinkhole activities, wetland hydrology, earthquakes and other natural hazards. He said the geotechnical engineer “will look after the earth under the buildings” to “assess the ownership of the soil on the job site or next to the job site to see if there have been any changes in the soil.”

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Wdowinski said the role of a structural engineer would be to assess whether there is “damage to buildings” with an analysis that would “look at whether columns or walls or new cracks have formed in the building, to see if there have been any changes to the building itself.

As for the seismic testing engineer, Wdowinski said that person would collect data on “ground movement, elastic ground movement, to see how much movement near the building” can occur to “assess whether it there is a problem that can cause damage to buildings.

From his subject’s point of view, Wdowinski said that what he would look for in these engineering reports would be data on any potential damage that could be caused due to ground movement and “whether there is any damage to buildings due to this. construction nearby ”.

Excavation is underway on the site of a new “ultra-luxury” condo tower project. On its website, developer OKO Group claims the waterfront site at 175 SE 25th Rd. Will feature a 47-story luxury residential tower, Una Residences, with units starting at $ 2 million. It will also include a three-level underground basement “which will become Miami’s deepest and most expensive underground garage”.

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According to ConstructionDive.com, the project managers used a “deep soil mix construction process to create an impermeable tub-like structure that protects the building’s concrete mat above the tub from groundwater and forms the base of the garage “.

The statement from the general contractor, which was sent on behalf of William J Real of Civic Construction Company, Inc. reads in part: “As with any high rise development in South Florida, our team suffered a series of minor leaks during the excavation process … The source of these leaks is the water table, which does not interact with Biscayne Bay or the drinking water that comes from the Biscayne aquifer.

“Our team corrects these leaks as they occur, and there is no evidence of impacts to surrounding properties. Since the water table stretches across all of South Florida, water intrusions of this nature are common during the early stages of high-rise developments in the area. We anticipate that additional leaks could occur as construction progresses. “

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In a letter to some nearby residents obtained by Local 10 News on Tuesday, the director of DERM said that “the soil we live on in Miami-Dade County is very porous and contains groundwater. Therefore, when excavating in Miami-Dade County, it is common to encounter the water table when digging into the ground. He said contractors will generally try to mitigate the amount of groundwater they encounter by “sealing or cementing the ground … before starting the excavation.”

Contractors, he wrote, will also use a dewatering technique that involves pumping out any water that seeps in “to help keep the area dry while they do their work,” including when they train. and pour concrete.

“Unfortunately, in this specific case, it appears that the soil sealing work during the excavation did not work adequately and there was groundwater seeping into the disposal area.” , wrote the director of DERM.

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According to city construction records, inspectors noted Monday as water continued to enter the site, a retention pond was created with fill soil to limit flooding.

Project issues in the water table

Following the first breach in October, Ant Yapi of Civic Construction said that “flooding has occurred at the UNA Residences construction site due to the intrusion of the water table.”

Rachel Silverstein, Miami Waterkeeper, said: “It’s very difficult to build underground in South Florida because we have very porous limestone rocks under us. We also have a shallow water table. You only have dry rock for a short time before you hit the water, so building an underground parking lot here in Miami can be very complicated.

This is one of the reasons she said you don’t see basement construction in homes in South Florida like in other parts of the country.

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I also spoke with Dr Rachel Silverstein about @MiamiWaterkpr re: the inherent challenges that our unique topography poses for the construction of underground parking garages: “very difficult to do underground constructions in South Florida because we have very porous limestone rock under us” pic.twitter.com/jt2vqnsVv8

– Christina Boomer Vazquez (@CBoomerVazquez) 21 October 2021

Una Residences’ underground garage can be considered the deepest, but building underground garages is not uncommon in Miami, said Miami Commission Ken Russell, who pointed to the recently completed downtown underground garage. by Brickell.

The breach in groundwater in October occurred one evening when Julie Durda, a local 10 News meteorologist, said southern Florida suffered “coastal seawater flooding,” and the Local meteorologist 10 Jordan Patrick explained that the full moon helped create the King Tides phase that we expect until Thursday.

“We live in an environment with very shallow groundwater,” Wdowinski said. “That’s why most houses don’t have a basement here. I think it’s a design issue, does that justify having a deep parking garage in a situation where we have such a shallow groundwater level? “

Wdowinski said this question is best answered by the architects of the project and the engineers who approved it. Russell said it’s a standard engineering process.

A d

“There are just more challenges here in Miami with porous limestone, aquifers and water bodies,” Russell said, adding that as long as it is deemed “safe,” the city will continue to allow this type of. projects.

This is because, said Russell, “in the Florida building code this is acceptable,” adding, “my job here is to make sure they meet the permit requirements from a standpoint. environmental “.

A closer look in the era of post-Surfside building collapse

Some residents of neighboring Brickell buildings said they were concerned about another incident like the Surfside condo collapse.

Related story: Brickell residents fear the worst after parking garage floods on site of luxury condo

In 2020, Wdowinski published the results of his groundbreaking research. Analyzing the spatial radar data, the CRF researcher “identified the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium as the only location on the east side of the Barrier Island where land subsidence was detected from 1993 to 1999”.

A d

Wdowinksi added that “the land subsidence by itself is unlikely to cause a building to collapse.” the structural integrity of buildings and projects along our coastline.

“What happened at Surfside, the tragic collapse there, put everyone on alert and rightly so because we don’t see situations like this it was scary,” Wdowinski said. . “Several years before the collapse, there was this construction of a new property south of the South Champlain Towers, so maybe that analogy puts people on alert and it’s good that people are aware of the situation and let the engineers do their job, to make sure we’re not going to have a similar situation again.

Wdowinski added that another lesson learned from Surfside is the monitoring of buildings after they are constructed.

A d

“I think that if we learn something from the Champlain Sud towers, it is that it is not enough to verify it when they make these buildings, but also afterwards, things can cascade afterwards, so we must continue to monitor these buildings. , especially when it gets old.

Parking garage

Start of construction of a new car park in downtown Temple

by Deena S. Hawkins on November 16, 2021

Construction of the buildings began in October and is expected to take around 18 months.

TEMPLE, Texas – Construction on the new Temple downtown parking lot began on November 10, according to a press release.

According to officials, construction of the parking lot is expected to take 13 months.

In addition to the city’s parking garages, visitors to downtown will see a variety of private projects take shape this year, such as the Hawn Hotel, the Arcadia Theater and the Sears Building and several new and expanded businesses.

The City will also make improvements to roads and landscaping from Central Avenue to Adams Avenue.

“As the revitalization of the Downtown Temple continues, we look forward to an increase in the number of visitors to the area,” said City Manager Brynn Myers. “We will be ready with an expanded parking lot to provide a practical and dynamic downtown experience”

On September 23, the City of Temple announced its partnership with real estate developer Waco Turner Behringer Development to transform buildings into apartments, shops and restaurants, offices, as well as a function and event hall.

“The Hawn Hotel and the Arcadia Theater have been mainstays of Temple’s historic downtown for nearly a century, so we are delighted to see these monuments get a second life,” said the Director of Temple City, Brynn Myers. “There have been so many dedicated people who have worked to make this a reality, and we can’t wait to see what the end result will be. “

Turner Behringer plans:

57 one to two bedroom apartments in the Hawn and Sears buildings, totaling approximately 45,000 square feet
Approximately 32,000 square feet of commercial retail space, which will include storefronts, new restaurants and offices

“Adaptive reuse refers to the conservation attempt to reuse an existing structure for purposes other than what it was originally built for,” said Shane Turner, partner and broker at Turner Behringer. “We have had great success with our adaptive reuse projects at Waco … and we are excited to be expanding at Temple,” continued Turner.

All projects are expected to be completed by spring 2023.

The real estate developer’s past projects have included the Hippodrome Theater, Madison Apartments and Altura Lofts.

No traffic slowdown is expected at this time. But some road closures are planned as this work progresses. The City will coordinate with local businesses to minimize the impact.

For updates on these and other key downtown construction projects, visit siteletstalktemple.com. Those with additional questions can contact the Temple City Engineering Department at 254-298-5660.

RELATED: Temple’s Downtown Hawn Hotel Revitalization Project, Arcadia Theater Includes New Apartments and Restaurants

RELATED: More Road Closures for Killeen in November

Parking garage

Norfolk International Airport opens huge parking lot for travelers, guests and employees

by Deena S. Hawkins on November 3, 2021

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – There is new parking at Norfolk International Airport for travelers, employees and guests.

The newly constructed garage D contains 3,208 daily (long-term) parking spaces. The garage took about 2 years to build at a cost of $ 68 million.

Garage D is a 1,113,000 square foot poured-in-place concrete parking structure on nine levels with double-thread helical entry and exit ramps. Construction crews used a total of 42,000 cubic yards of concrete and 2,600 tonnes of rebar to build the garage which is lit by 700 energy-saving LED lights.

The airport has relocated the daily east parking lot as well as the employee parking lot formerly located on Robin Hood Road, eliminating costly shuttle bus trips.

The number of parking spaces per floor is available in garages A and D. With the addition of garage D, four garages are now connected to the ORF arrivals terminal, connecting vehicles and airline doors.

NEW daily parking garage D garage is now open to travelers, guests and employees. With this addition, four parking garages are connected to the arrivals terminal, allowing a covered transfer from the car to the airline gate. #LetsPark?? #Fly ?? pic.twitter.com/vSHsfYHMqy

– norfolkairport (@NorfolkAirport) November 1, 2021

Download the WAVY News app to stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports from WAVY-TV 10. Available at Apple and Google Play stores.

Parking garage

Authorities say a new car park in Stamford is good news for walkers and cyclists. Town planners disagree

by Deena S. Hawkins on October 30, 2021

STAMFORD – When regional leaders gathered opposite the Stamford transport hub to celebrate the grand opening of a new state garage, lawmakers were hopeful for the future.

U.S. Representative Jim Himes, D-Conn., Hinted that the new garage would help create a “progressive mall” in downtown Stamford where people could exist without cars. State Representative and city mayoral candidate Caroline Simmons, D-Stamford, called it a victory for “hard-working commuters, for public safety, for quality of life.” Cory Paris Representative D-Stamford said the $ 81.7 million investment proved that “our state’s crown jewel sets a great example of how we can invest in infrastructure.”

But in the hours since lawmakers hailed the 928-seater garage as a win for Stamford and the region, backlash began to bubble online.

“No, no, no,” Hartford town planner Autumn Florek wrote on Twitter. “Building gigantic parking garages destroys the environment and our communities. It’s not a party! “

Florek was far from alone. The consensus among urban planning practitioners and enthusiasts is that building a larger garage is terrible for residents and bad for the environment.

“This is tripling on the car-centric land use around this busy station, as many people are finally starting to realize, exactly at the wrong time to increase driving and increase pollution in urban areas and increase emissions. greenhouse gases, ”said Anthony Cherolis, Hartford-based transport advocate and engineer.

In 2008, Connecticut set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to 80% or below 2001 levels, a goal the state has not always been able to meet. Transportation continues to be one of the state’s biggest producers of gas emissions, “primarily from the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles,” according to a 2021 State Department study. ‘Energy and Environmental Protection.

Cherolis argues that by building nearly 1,000 parking spaces, the city will further encourage driving for decades to come. The existing public garage for the Stamford Transportation Center, for example, was built in 1985.

Plans for the new garage on Washington Boulevard include improvements to the roads surrounding the garage – like dedicated bus, carpool, and taxi lanes – and a direct pedestrian connection to track 5 of the station where the Metro-North Railway takes. passengers to Grand Central Station.

State Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti said on Monday, during the official introduction of the garage project, that the pavement improvements would be “bicycle and pedestrian friendly” to complement the 100 storage spaces. sheltered bikes that the DOT will include in the garage.

However, Cherolis rejected the idea that the garage could make the station accessible to non-drivers while increasing the number of spaces for drivers.

“I think they’re putting lipstick on a pig,” he said. “Walking or cycling past the entrance or exit of a parking lot during rush hour – it’s hard to think of that better and make it safe or convenient. “

New proposal, new reviews

While planners criticize the garage’s design, the DOT faced almost opposite criticism the last time it attempted to revitalize the area around the station.

The department presented a $ 500 million plan in 2013 to replace the dilapidated garage at 43 Station Place across from the station with “600,000 square feet of commercial office, 60,000 square feet of retail floors, 150 hotel rooms and 150 residential units ”. The plan was to bring transit-oriented development, an urban development strategy that seeks to maximize convenience close to transit, to Stamford.

As part of this plan, the suburban parking lot was about to move a quarter of a mile. Some commuters lobbied against the proposal.

“Commuters want the parking lot rebuilt, in place. DOT wants a transit-focused development project that will expand station uses and generate revenue,” said John Hartwell, then Connecticut vice president. Commuter Rail Council, in 2016.

After years of delay, the sight of a mixed-use bubble near the train station has faded on the vine. In October 2016, state officials canceled the redevelopment more than three years after the process began because the designated real estate and construction team failed their verification process.

Two years later, when the state attempted to seek public opinion on building a parking lot instead of a mixed-use complex, public reaction was still mixed. Few of the residents attended community meetings with the state, and residents wanted to see a new garage built directly where the current parking lot is.

Town representative Eric Morson, D-13, agreed then and still supports him today. The new parking garage plan does not replicate the same convenience of the old garage.

“If you need to pick up your train at the north end of the platform or if you are dropped off at the north end of the platform… this parking lot is at the south end of the platform,” said Morson, a longtime commuter, noted. “It’s a hell of a walk for some people who might not be able to do it. It’s going to take some people longer. And when you rush for your train? Maybe you miss it.”

Giulietti revealed at Monday’s ceremony that the state has more ambitious plans for the existing garage. He has to demolish a significant part of the facility due to structural problems. In the process, the DOT expects to find a new use for the property.

“This is top notch real estate,” Giulietti said of the plot. “We are looking to attract investors so that we can offset some of our costs of launching an operation by perhaps putting something in that will generate funds for the system.”

Design for the future

The very lack of convenience for motorists and worried commuters like Hartwell and Morson is what some planners think cities should aim to do.

Mary Donegan, professor of town planning at the University of Connecticut, understands that people drive places, especially in this state. But she also knows that building more garages and roads leads to more driving, a claim supported by research.

A study conducted by several UConn professors in 2016 linked the supply of parking to the number of people driving using geospatial data. As the number of parking spaces per person increased from 0.2 to 0.5, the share of people traveling by car increased with it.

“We kind of have this story in Connecticut that we need to improve service for people to use transit, and it’s true,” Donegan said. “But it’s also true that we have to make it harder to drive. If we just improve the service, people won’t change.”

For the sake of the people of Stamford, present and future, she believes it is up to the state to force this change.

Donegan also argues that there is an element of fairness in not building a garage.

“The poorest residents don’t own a car and certainly won’t be able to afford this garage,” she said. “So you are spending a lot of money on infrastructure to help the wealthiest in the city and detrimental to small business owners or residents who want to walk and cycle.”

Dice Oh, an active member of the local transport advocacy group People Friendly Stamford, understands that there must be garage parking, given the role of the Stamford Transport Center as a regional hub. Still, he’s frustrated with the design.

“The priority for the station should be much more to allow the kind of developments that would create pedestrianized neighborhoods oriented towards public transport, and not to make the car the number one priority, which is happening now,” said Oh.

The old garage was falling apart. He understands that something new had to happen, but it should have taken a more forward-looking approach.

“What we would like to see (from) the state is to have a vision of the station of the future that is not just 1,000 people going to the station every day,” he said.

[email protected]

Parking facilities

Parking lots still ban Chevy Bolts due to fire risk

by Deena S. Hawkins on October 26, 2021

Knowing that a car could spontaneously catch fire is far from a comforting thought, but until General Motors rolls out a fix for its Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV models, that’s exactly what they can continue to do. to do. GM recommends that before the fix (likely a battery replacement) is applied to affected vehicles, owners be instructed to keep the state of charge within certain limits and not to park the vehicle indoors.

And now, various parking lots across the United States are targeting electric bolts with a ban. Signs have appeared in many places explicitly stating that a given parking location prohibits these vehicles from being parked there, citing obvious concerns about the risk of fire and the ongoing recall of these models.

People are now reporting that such signs are being installed in places like Nashville, Tennessee, where such a sign is present in the parking lot of the public library. Another was reported outside a parking lot in Charleston, South Carolina, and another was spotted in Long Beach, California, in the parking lot next to the city courthouse. We also covered an older report from San Francisco.

There are probably many more in the area, but they have not been photographed. The ones in Nashville and Charleston have been broken and they explicitly say that for safety reasons or because of the battery fire recall they do not allow any bolts to enter. It also appears to be all parking garages, places where GM told Bolt EV and Bolt EUV owners not to take their vehicles anyway, but it seems the manufacturer’s recommendation was not enough.

More recently, GM has also asked Bolt owners to park at least 50 feet from other parked vehicles, in an effort to prevent larger-scale fires. In mid-September, it was announced that GM and battery maker LG Chem were working together on a solution to the problem, most likely a new battery that eliminates the risk of fire; all affected bolts should get this free battery replacement once it becomes available.

Uncategorized

A futuristic look at parking structures

by Deena S. Hawkins on October 7, 2021

“No Parking” certainly does not need to imply a negative connotation, according to a recent report by JLL who describes four ways parking garages prepare for fewer cars.

Land conversions, parking technology pilots, EV stations and autonomous vehicle hubs are some of the creative and innovative ways to evolve these important elements of commercial real estate.

The rise of VTCs, autonomous vehicles and micro-mobility devices such as electric scooters should lower motorization rates among younger generations.

This, along with the increase in electric vehicle ownership, has caused building owners and architects to think about parking lots and how they will need to adapt.

“The forecasted demand for electric vehicles is increasing,” says Mike Bammel, general manager and national practice manager, Renewable Energy, JLL. “Existing properties may not have the capacity or capabilities to manage it. “

Turn it into a retail space

Parking garages are built for a future where people drive less, which means designing structures that can support the possibility that they can be turned into something else, like a retail space or a theater.

For example, a garage in AvalonBay Communities Inc.’s 475-unit multi-family complex in the Los Angeles Arts District will have higher than average ceilings; flat floors, unlike the sloped foundations found in most parking garages; and the elevators and stairs are in the middle of the structure, not on the perimeter. The project is expected to be completed in 2022, according to JLL.

In Shenzhen, Kohn Pedersen is designing a complex with underground parking lots that could be converted into retail space.

The Cincinnati headquarters of data analytics firm 84.51 ° was designed with three floors of above ground parking that could be converted into offices, JLL also reports.

Technical parking experiments in progress

To prepare the car parks of the future, new technologies must be tested. The current structures are already part of the experiment.

Inside the Detroit Smart Parking Lab, which opened in August, smart mobility and infrastructure companies are testing parking-related mobility, logistics and electric vehicle charging technologies, with help from Michigan state grants.

Enterprise, the rental car company, will test automated valet parking technology that can improve the rental car return process in the Detroit space.

The proliferation of EV charging stations

In 2020, the share of global sales of electric cars increased by 70% to a record 5%, according to the International Energy Agency.

And by some estimates, electricity adoption could increase by 25% per year over the next five years, according to Bammel. There are tax advantages in some areas for building charging stations to meet this demand. AvalonBay has increased the number of electric car charging stations in its buildings in West Hollywood and Hollywood, as have many multi-family owners.

“Coordinating with infrastructure teams to ensure they have the capabilities to execute and deliver sustainability options will be critical to deploying this programming successfully and on time to meet demand,” said Bammel .

In California, tech company EVmatch is installing 120 electric vehicle chargers in apartment complexes with a grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC). The company plans to target properties in poorer communities where residents typically face major barriers to owning and charging electric vehicles.

Autonomous fleets fit into tight compression

Many building owners envision their current car parks as future transport hubs for driverless taxi fleets.

The Kohn Pedersen complex in Shenzhen, for example, has an elevated loop that could be dedicated to autonomous vehicle drop-offs and pick-ups.

A 2018 render from the National Parking Association in the United States shows a garage with stacked parking for autonomous vehicles and separate entry lanes for cars driven by humans. The absence of drivers allows them to squeeze more tightly than typical cars.

“It might sound like a long way off, but it really isn’t,” Bammel says. “Building owners are best prepared to adapt to changes as they occur. “

Parking spaces

Sarasota to Increase Rates for Certain Parking Spaces at St. Armands Circle

by Deena S. Hawkins on October 6, 2021

The City of Sarasota will slightly increase the rates for some of the parking spaces at St. Armands Circle starting next week. The city is also adjusting the hours people have to pay for on-street parking.

The city says the changes mean that the hours and prices of the St. Armands Parking District will align with those in downtown Sarasota.

“The adjustments to the St. Armands parking lot will ensure consistency with the downtown paid parking and are necessary to meet the tax liability requirements that funded the construction of the St. Armands garage,” the city said in A press release.

All on-street parking spaces in the neighborhood that require payment will have a rate of $ 1.50 per hour. Currently, some of the spaces cost $ 1.50 per hour, while others cost $ 1 per hour.

Following:Sarasota to review proposals to develop city-owned land near St. Armands Circle

Restaurant news: Lobster spot opens at St. Armands Circle in Sarasota

As of next week, on-street parking meters will be in service from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday, excluding holidays. Currently, the meters are in service from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We are moving to a single zone, single rate program in St. Armands,” said Mark Lyons, the city’s general manager of parking, in the press release. “With over 700,000 transactions since start-up, data shows that 85% of on-street parking users in St. Armands currently choose to use spaces at $ 1.50 per hour. The rate change will ensure consistency throughout the St. Armands parking district and downtown system, making it easier to use.

When using the Park Mobile app or pay kiosk, free 10-minute on-street parking will be provided in the St. Armands parking area, according to the press release.

The prices of the St. Armands garage will become consistent with those of the two downtown parking garages. The first two hours will be free, the third hour will be $ 3, and each additional hour will be $ 1 or a portion thereof.

The rate for the Fillmore Lot will be reduced from 75 cents an hour to $ 1 an hour or part thereof.

Approximately 150 free on-street parking spaces along the northern and southern Presidents boulevards will remain free.

Anne Snabes covers city and county government for the Herald-Tribune. You can contact her at [email protected] or (941) 228-3321 and follow her on Twitter at @a_snabes.

Parking garage

Bloomington’s new parking lot will soon feature artwork and solar panels

by Deena S. Hawkins on September 21, 2021

The opening of the new Fourth Street parking lot last month eased some space constraints and made life a little easier for downtown employees and customers, according to business groups.

Downtown businesses are emerging from a pandemic-induced malaise, and not having to worry about lack of parking is some relief.

“Parking in general is a part of the daily lives of many downtown employees, businesses and customers,” said Talisha Coppock, executive director of Downtown Bloomington Inc., a non-profit organization.

Bloomington City Council:“A la carte” garbage collection, higher parking fees?

The economic recovery remains fragile, she said, and some customers are still reluctant to join crowded indoor spaces, so not having to worry about parking takes some of the stress away.

Erin Predmore, president and CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, agrees.

“It’s great to have additional parking,” she said.

With the return of students and events like this weekend’s Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, downtown merchants are happy that parking constraints have been reduced, Predmore said.

While the garage receives customers on an hourly basis, she said the spaces primarily help employers who struggle to find adequate, nearby and secure parking for their employees.

Following:How many students have been exempted from IU’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate?

Outside the rented spaces, parking in the garage is supposed to cost 50 cents an hour. But some of the garage’s electronic equipment malfunctioned last week, forcing city officials to allow people to park in the garage for free.

However, Bloomington Public Works Director Adam Wason said a spare should be installed this week, starting on Tuesday.

The garage entrance is on West Fourth Street, between South Walnut Street and South College Avenue.

About 100 of the nearly 540 spaces will be dedicated to hourly parking, while the rest will be rented to downtown employers. There are few places left to rent, Wason said. Some of the rented spaces are booked 24/7, while others are rented 12 hours a day Monday through Friday, opening them up to hourly use at night and on weekends.

He also said the city still needs to complete additional landscaping, artwork that will be incorporated into the facade of the building and a sign indicating whether the garage is full.

Wason said when city officials opened the garage in August, they knew more work needed to take place and they expected to have to fix some issues. Nonetheless, they wanted the structure open to provide additional parking when students arrive for the Indiana University fall semester.

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Commercial offices and retail space on the garage’s ground floor are currently unoccupied and no lease has been signed, Wason said.

According to a brochure from Cockerham Commercial Real Estate & Consulting, the garage offers four 1,800 square foot spaces, which can be combined. Wason said the spaces could accommodate businesses such as restaurants, retailers or a coffee shop.

Wason also said he expects solar panels to be installed within the next month. City officials are hoping the panels will generate enough electricity to run the garage and businesses, but Wason said that depends a bit on the type of businesses that will occupy the space.

Although the garage has not yet been fully occupied, Wason said he has seen an increase in traffic, and he expects this trend to continue, especially as the nation emerges fully from the pandemic and people come to the city center more often to work, shop, dine or attend events.

The garage replaced a smaller one that the city had originally planned to rehabilitate but then demolished.

In February 2019, a report on additional structural inspections revealed significant deterioration. The council has issued a bond of $ 18.5 million for a new garage. Including interest, the total cost of the garage is expected to increase by almost $ 30 million. The deposit is to be paid through parking fees and income from financing tax increases.

After the city closed the old garage, downtown traders said they saw less foot traffic, though some council members at the time were also concerned about subsidizing parking at a time when the car traffic should be reduced to help combat climate change.

The discussion has erupted again during recent budget discussions, with some council members suggesting that the price of parking in garages, lots and streets should be adjusted in part depending on the popularity of parking spaces.

Boris Ladwig is the municipal government reporter for the Herald-Times. Contact him at [email protected]

Parking garage

Seattle’s first robotic parking lot opens

by Deena S. Hawkins on August 27, 2021

Residents of this luxury Seattle tower drive their cars onto a platform, get out of the car, and enter a code. Then their car disappears into a hole.

This is called the “parking lot” at the Spire.

Seeing the technology demonstrated for the first time, most people say, “Whoa”. And then they want to see what’s in the hole.

“We are the only ones who have the key to this door, because the parking system is a building-sized machine and no one should be in the lower basements while the machine is running, down the road. ‘except qualified technicians and engineers,’ said Michael Dennison with the American company that distributes Swiss-made robotic parking equipment.

Seattle’s first automated parking system is part of the Spire, a 41-story luxury condominium tower built on the outskirts of Belltown, not far from the Space Needle.

Robotic garages like this may be new to Seattle, but they’re an old hat in Switzerland.

Related: This Seattle robot garage can be taken apart like LEGOs

The next level from the surface is called the “transfer floor,” and is reminiscent of the interior of a cuckoo clock. Cars went up and down on three different pistons, while residents upstairs above us picked up and dropped off their cars. Robotic carts transported these cars to and from a central elevator, which descended another eight floors, each with its own system of carts, wrapping the cars in slots, like an underground beehive.

“I’d love to take a picture of this,” I said, leaning over the hole with my camera.

“You can,” Dennison said. “The only thing is… you will die, if you fall into the hole. So don’t fall into the hole.

“I won’t fall into the hole,” I promised.

Paul Menzies is the CEO of Laconia, who developed the project. He says the automated garage takes up much less space. It doesn’t need ramps or other lanes. Vertical circulation is very efficient.

“This particular site is very small – 10,660 square feet,” he said. “It’s about a quarter of an acre. So, to give an idea, it’s about as much for a single family home in the suburbs.

To complicate matters even more, the site is triangular. Many local engineers told him that you cannot install underground parking at this site. But a young engineer in Switzerland, working for robotic parking company Sotefin, had studied Seattle’s land use code and asked to tackle it.

“So he was gone for half an hour and he came back with a set of drawings in his hand showing how, in fact, it could work when a lot of people said it couldn’t be done,” Menzies said. . “That’s one of the reasons. I love working with young people. They don’t know what can’t be done, so they do it anyway.

This site is just two blocks from Amazon, so Menzies says many software engineers have requested garage tours. He hopes that will translate into condo sales in Speyer, which range from half a million to almost $ 4 million.

But demand was not as strong as he had hoped. This spring, he had to cut prices by 10%.

Lots of buildings are being built in Seattle without parking garages these days. In dense Seattle neighborhoods, city regulations no longer require them because they add to traffic congestion and cost money to build.

Michael Anderson of the Sightline Institute estimates that underground parking spaces in deep parking garages today cost an average of around $ 100,000 per space to build, including financing costs. Previous analyzes from Sightline have determined that the downtown area has excess parking that goes unused during the day.

At least in the luxury condo market, “most of the people who live in the residential tower want to park in the building,” Menzies said.

Caption: Paul Menzies poses for a portrait on the Speyer roof terrace.

Remarkably, robotic technology doesn’t seem to have increased the cost of parking spaces, at least in this case. The parking spaces in this building sell for $ 75,000. The robotic garage technology itself adds $ 8 million to the project, and the concrete work is more expensive because it has to be poured with more precision than in a normal garage. But efficient use of space means there is much less soil to excavate, which saves huge amounts of money. Whether this completely offsets the additional costs associated with robots, Menzies couldn’t tell.

While this may be the first to open, Seattle will soon see more robotic parking lots. The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance will finish pouring concrete on its robotic parking lot site on Friday, August 27. This building is slated to open in 2023. And unlike the Speyer parking lot, the SCCA system is designed in such a way that it can be converted to another use, such as a lab space, should the parking lot become obsolete in the distant future.

Parking garage

First look at the parking available on Market Street in Wheeling

by Deena S. Hawkins on August 17, 2021

OHIO COUNTY, W.Va. (WTRF) – The public got their first glimpse of a parking structure proposed to support the ongoing Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Building Project. For this project to work, the city needed more parking lots nearby. So they took a look at Chase Bank’s former location on Market Street.

The city worked with architect Vic Greco and the Mills Group, who gave Council a presentation tonight using a CGI type of rendering of what the location might look like when complete. Details are not finalized, but they hope to have around 250 parking spaces, as well as several retail locations on the ground floor.

But the cost of the project is an issue for the city and the taxpayers. There are some architectural issues with building a foundation for a parking lot there, and the pandemic is pushing up construction prices across the country.

“We started talking about this project in 2018-2019 or so, and since then the costs have increased. So we will try to reduce the costs, between 13 and 14 million dollars will be the cost of the project when all is said and done, at least that is what we hope. “

Mayor Glenn Elliott, Wheeling

Mayor Elliott explained that a project like this would typically be run by the private sector in a big city like Pittsburgh, where they can charge more for parking. He says that in small towns like Wheeling, parking garages are usually subsidized by local governments.

“In the state of West Virginia and the town of Wheeling, you know, parking garages usually don’t pay off. He will collect money, he will bring income every year. Not only parking spaces but first floor retail rentals but it probably won’t pay off as you can’t charge enough in the town of Wheeling to make sense of a project like this.

Mayor Glenn Elliott, Wheeling

Officials hope the cost of the project will drop as prices normalize after the pandemic.

Parking garage

Troy’s Uncle Sam Parking Garage closed indefinitely

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 27, 2021

TROY – Uncle Sam’s parking garage will be closed indefinitely from Wednesday – the second time in two years the city has closed it.

The 47-year-old garage in downtown Troy was closed due to safety concerns after inspection by the city’s code enforcement and engineering departments. City spokesman John Salka said many people had called to complain about the condition of the parking lot, which is owned by The Bryce Companies, but did not immediately have details of the issues. safety of the structure.

“Obviously, security is the number one concern in the city,” said Salka. “We would not have ordered the garage to be closed if we had not found it inappropriate to be opened based on the inspection.”

The Bryce Companies, which own other downtown buildings such as the Troy Atrium, Quackenbush Building and Frear Building, declined to comment. In an email to clients obtained by The Times Union, a Bryce Companies employee wrote: “No one should be alarmed.

Bryce Companies will employ their own engineer to inspect the building and verify the city’s claims, after which it could potentially reopen.

This is the second time that the garage has been closed since early 2020.

The orderly closure comes more than a year after a technical survey of the garage found it to be structurally damaged and collapsing, recommending it be replaced within the next decade.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Structure Care of Lancaster, Pa., A company specializing in parking garages, gave the garage a rating of 3, or “fair enough.” It’s just above a mediocre rating.

“Uncle Sam’s Parking Garage is an over 40 year old parking structure approaching the end of its life cycle. We have identified several structural issues that require immediate attention and will extend the life of the vehicle. garage ten years or more, but plans should be developed to replace the structure within the next decade, ”warned its November 2019 study.

In December 2019, part of the garage was closed following a fall from a beam. The city has temporarily closed the garage following the report.

The city built the garage in 1974 and then sold it to Bryce in 2010 for $ 2.4 million. Bryce expanded the garage to three stories, adding two more stories to part of the structure. Uncle Sam’s parking garage accounts for about 18% of downtown off-street parking, according to the 2016 City Parking Study.

Parking garage

New parking lot could arrive at State College, PA

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 22, 2021

Big parking changes could happen to downtown State College over the next few years.

State College’s oldest parking lot – Pugh Street Garage – could be replaced by 2026, as part of a larger borough parking project currently estimated at $ 46 million over the next five years, over the basis of a first list of priorities which still has to be approved by the borough council. No financial commitment has yet been made and the borough is essentially on the “ground floor” of these first plans.

Yet with these potential plans being publicly discussed (and this list, known as the Capital Improvement Plan, which is due to be adopted by council on August 2), the borough’s future vision for parking at the city center is better targeted.

The improvement plan, which, if adopted as planned, would serve as a guide and not a list of financial commitments, includes $ 5 million set aside for the purchase of a property for parking in 2022 According to Borough spokesperson Doug Shontz, this property could then serve as a replacement site for the Pugh garage or potentially new paved land, since it is also possible that the Pugh garage will be rebuilt on its current site.

The improvement plan also provides for $ 15 million set aside for 2023 and $ 26 million in 2026. Shontz confirmed that these funds are intended to finance parking structures (i.e. a garage and potentially land. paved), in addition to possible emergencies.

“Parking is always in the conversation here whether you’re a visitor, a student or a long-term resident,” Shontz added. “And we are just trying to get out of this pandemic so that we can continue to offer parking at the level requested not only by our residents but also by visitors to the region. they go back to Happy Valley.

The improvement plan does not specifically name the garage on Pugh Street, but public council discussions have repeatedly indicated that the garage is the priority replacement. After all, it was built in 1972 – which is 13 years older than the next oldest garage on Fraser Street – and consultants told the borough as early as 2002 that the garage was nearing its end. and that it should eventually be replaced.

In a March report, Walker Consultants told council that the Pugh Street garage has about 7 to 10 years of useful life left. That same consultant recommended that the borough spend $ 591,000 on maintaining Pugh this year alone.

“We need to replace the Pugh Street parking structure,” Borough Director Tom Fountaine added at Monday’s council meeting.

The borough’s four parking garages combine for a total of 1,563 parking spaces, with the Pugh Street garage accounting for 31% of that, or 491 spaces.

The projected price of $ 46 million for the project makes it the most expensive of the 31 projects in the 2022-2026 Capital Improvement Plan. The remaining 30 projects amount to around $ 85 million, which could be partially offset by state subsidies or other means.

“First, we don’t want the parking structures to fall,” said City Councilor Theresa Lafer. “Second, we don’t want parking structures to be insufficient, which would make it impossible for the continuing and possibly even increasing number of people coming here for various vacations… clearing up.”

Lafer was quick to address residents, however, and stressed that the borough council would not commit to spending more than it can afford. The adoption of the capital improvement plan does not commit funds for these 31 projects; instead, it simply serves as a first step so that budget discussions in the years to come have a foundation from which to start.

“We don’t want to do anything that is going to cost us more than what we have to spend,” City Councilor Evan Myers said. “But we don’t know what it is yet – so it’s kind of like a placeholder.”

Each project in the capital improvement plan is prioritized. The new garage is seen as something the borough “should do” as opposed to “must do” or “could do”. Projects the borough “must do” include maintaining the parking garage, which is expected to cost $ 4.275 million through 2026, and repairing the sinkholes.

The capital improvement plan was first presented to council on May 10, before council met for three public works sessions and two public reviews. The adoption is scheduled for the council meeting at 7 p.m. on August 2.

“The idea is to make sure that we are able to do something to not overload our parking system downtown,” added Shontz.

Josh Moyer received his BA in Journalism from Penn State and his MS from Columbia. He has been involved in sports and news writing for almost 20 years. He’s got the best athlete he’s ever seen like Tecmo Super Bowl’s Bo Jackson.

Parking spaces

The only property in Boston for less than $ 200,000? Parking spaces

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 21, 2021

Zero bedrooms, zero baths, endless possibilities.

Parking meters by Tim pierce via Flickr /Creative Commons

You hit the real estate market. You don’t have much to spend. You are looking for a property in a notoriously expensive market. Well, have we got a deal for you. The best real estate deals in Boston aren’t in one specific area, but in one particular type of real estate: parking spaces.

All right, listen to me. They might be a little flat, but if you want cheap land in town, this is your best chance to be able to say “Yeah, I own a place downtown” (maybe avoid elaborating on the details). And Boston is an unfortunately car-dependent city, so you might argue that owning a parking space is even more desirable than the deed of a high-maintenance house or apartment (you’ll never have one. high electricity bill or the need for a new water heater when you have a parking space).

“Parking never loses value,” says Marcella Sliney, Sales Associate at Coldwell Banker Realty. “It’s an excellent investment.

Not to mention the fact that some parking spots cost as little as $ 60,000, you’ll find that the parking spots are actually the cheapest listings in town (it doesn’t matter if you can buy a one-bedroom condo at that. prices in places like Dallas). Whether in a garage or in the open, we have found some of the most popular parking spaces for sale for you.

Photo via RE / MAX Realty Plus

170, rue Tremont, # 37, Downtown
Price: $ 50,000

This one is for those who like a little luxury. The downtown space has valet parking so you can just leave the keys behind while you enjoy all that downtown has to offer. When you’re ready to go, simply call the valet and the car will be brought to you directly. No more worrying about being late for a show in the Theater District thanks to the T deadlines or searching for a seat again! (Now you can blame all your delays on Boston traffic instead.)

735 Harrison Avenue, South End
Price: $ 70,000

Be careful, big cars! This single garage space is described as oversized, so you won’t have any trouble maneuvering your SUV here. It also offers covered parking in the historically congested South End. Of course, to get that spot, you actually have to be a resident of the South End, a neighborhood where the median price of a home is $ 1 million, according to realtor.com. Oh and did we mention there’s a monthly fee of $ 67 as well? But the end result is still a parking spot in one of the city’s notoriously congested neighborhoods.

151, rue Tremont, unit UL405, downtown
Price: $ 69,000

Weekly cleanings! A full-time attendant! This downtown private garage has it all, including services that your current home doesn’t have. The space on the fourth upper level will give you access to stress-free parking so you can easily get to the center of the Hub. And even better are the views! Located across from the Common, you’ll also enjoy breathtaking views of the city’s best green spaces when entering and exiting the garage, providing just another touch of luxury you won’t find at home.

Zero Bolton D4, Boston South
Price: $ 65,000

Finding parking should be simple and easy with this location, which is one of ten for sale in newly paved lot near the Broadway T stop (buy the set if you really feel like investing!). The exclusive space is for everyone, whether you live in Boston or beyond, and is within walking distance of Southie’s most popular destinations, according to Sliney. You’ll be the envy of all your friends when you have a place to park while they roam the streets looking for a spot or sacrifice their lawn chairs to save space.

1313 Washington St U4A & U4B, south end
Price: $ 140,000

A two for one special that brings you once again to the quite affordable South End Market! You don’t even have to be a resident of this luxury apartment building to purchase this tandem parking space on the upper level of the Willakes Passage condominium’s air-conditioned garage, perfect for a hangout on winter days. The mini-tandem spot is near the elevator and stairs for easy access. A key fob allows you to get in and out of the garage and provides an extra layer of security if parking garages are making you anxious. And while you don’t need to own a spot in the building, you do have to pay condo fees, but luckily they only cost $ 185.26 per month!

Uncategorized

UToledo speeds up parking lot demolition after Florida collapse

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 13, 2021

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – The University of Toledo is accelerating plans to demolish its parking lots in response to the nationwide conversation within concrete structures following the tragedy of the Surfside Condominium collapse in Florida and recent inspections for annual repairs.

The east and west ramp garages were due to be demolished next year, but demolition is now taking place this summer on garages built in 1976.

On its website, the administration explains that with all car parks, damage caused by de-icing salts, snow removal, winter freezes and exposure to the sun and water affects the life of the structures.

In a statement posted on the university’s website, Jason Toth, senior associate vice president for administration, said, “Garage degradation continues at an accelerated rate compared to what we have seen in recent years. and for the safety of our community on campus, we had to go up our timeline to eliminate them.

As a precaution, the two parking structures will henceforth be replaced by land with paved surfaces. A nonprofit called SP +, from Chicago, will also take over day-to-day operations. The university is expected to spend $ 9 million demolishing the east and west garages, as well as paving, tripping, resurfacing and repairs over the next few years.

“Despite our best efforts to extend the structural integrity of garages, they have reached the end of their useful life. … we are convinced that these short-term drawbacks are necessary for the positive long-term impacts on the University, ”Toth said.

“I never really used the parking garages so it’s not too bad for me. I don’t know a lot of people who use the parking lots, but I’m sure for safety it’s a good idea, ”says Toledo student Molly Ryan.

“I mean, if they wanted to demolish it anyway and it protects everyone, then yeah, I think that’s a good idea,” says Amid Gahadrad, a junior at Toledo.

909 spaces in the east ramp and 750 spaces in the west ramp will be eliminated, but once the garages are removed there will still be over 6,700 parking spaces on the main campus and 4,400 spaces on the health sciences campus . The university says it will also factor in forecasted parking demands based on enrollment and employment trends, it expects to have excess parking spaces.

Parking spaces

Tenants need parking spaces to charge cars

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 10, 2021

Regarding “Roadside recharging sites” (Lettres, July 7) and “Limited spaces for recharging electric vehicles” (Lettres, July 9): another serious limitation to extending the ownership of electric vehicles to San Francisco is the inability of tenants to charge their vehicles in their parking spaces in existing residential buildings, as they generally cannot be billed individually for electricity use in common areas like parking garages, which is billed to the owner. In addition to requiring parking for electric cars in new apartment buildings, as one writer carefully suggested, more San Francisco tenants would buy electric vehicles if building owners of existing apartments with parking added recharging capacity to some of the spaces – another area that city / state policy should take into account.

Pay the fair share

On “Utilities Attack Rooftop Solar Power” (Open Forum, July 3): Under the state’s rooftop solar subsidy program, Net Energy Metering, non-solar customers – including seniors, low-income Californians and renters – are paying about $ 200 more per year in their utility bills to cover generous grants given to homeowners who install solar panels. By 2030, this amount will rise to over $ 500 / year if the NEM is not reformed. Since 1995, when NEM was established, the credits solar power owners receive for reselling their excess electricity to the grid have increased while the cost of solar power has fallen by 70%. The credit is so generous that owners of solar roofs, who tend to be wealthier, pay only nominal and sometimes even zero electricity bills. They no longer pay their fair share for grid maintenance, programs for low-income customers, energy efficiency programs, etc. These costs are unfairly passed on to non-solar customers. Inflated grants mean homeowners pay off an average rooftop solar system in less than five years, but receive these generous grants for 20 years. We believe that NEM can and should be reformed. Done well, rooftop solar adoption will continue to grow, but in a way that ensures all customers continue to pay their fair share.

Hene Kelly, Legislative Director, California Alliance for Retired Americans, San Francisco

Newsom’s indecision

“The governor did his best” (Letters, July 7) suggests we step into his shoes during the COVID-19 crisis. Yes, those were tough times, and there was no set plan for how to respond. His bland indecision about business has been very damaging to the economy (I own a business). Now, what if I were in his shoes? Maybe not go to a fancy restaurant when I had told everyone to stay home.

Jim Gray, Rodeo

Bring back the baby clinics

Regarding “Time to invest in neighborhood health clinics” (Letters, July 8): The author suggests neighborhood health clinics. A radical idea? When I moved to Bernal Heights in 1961, there was a free Well-Baby clinic a few blocks out of town, in an empty storefront, staffed one morning every two weeks with a doctor and nurse. . They checked length, weight, general health and development, indicated when inoculations were due and administered them if the parent wanted, and referred issues for further medical examination if necessary. What a concept – basic preventive care where it was most likely to be useful! Today? Load all of your kids on two city buses and walk blocks to get to a “neighborhood” health center. Does San Francisco have the courage to try and revive Well-Baby clinics, and perhaps Well-Senior screening, in neighborhoods where statistics show it is needed most? (Seniors’ centers that offer testing do not advertise it to non-members). Studies repeatedly show that preventative medicine saves more money than it costs – and yes, we should try it.

Miriam Mueller, San Francisco

Parking garage

The car park of the future

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 8, 2021

Many of the garages that SP Plus, a Chicago-based company, runs across the country are using hands-free door systems and mobile payments “to create a contactless experience,” said Jeff Eckerling, the company’s chief growth officer. . Overall, the company oversees “more than two million” parking spaces at several thousand locations, including more than 70 airports, he said.

Despite contactless technology, the stay-at-home restrictions that were imposed more than a year ago due to the coronavirus have taken their toll on the parking lot industry. An empty parking space is like a subway car without passengers, a baseball stadium without fans.

“Our whole industry has been hit very hard, from hotels to airports to event venues,” Eckerling said.

Not surprisingly, he said, New York was among the first cities where parking recovered. “If you go back four months, we were almost at pre-Covid levels,” he added. “So many workers used public transport, but it only takes a small number of trips to the office and driving to create a real win for our company.”

The history of parking in the United States is not particularly romantic. Most reports date the first public garages to the early 1930s, around the time car ownership began to grow. Car “jockeys” handled the business, and cars were often placed on platforms and routed to available spaces.

By the 1950s, a construction boom had filled town centers with garages, giving people more convenient access to shops and businesses. The mid-20th century also brought the introduction of multi-storey garages with ramps and “do-it-yourself” parking.

Some parts of the Flash vision were indeed recently in Hoboken, NJ, where the company partnered with LAZ Parking in one of its garages. High-tech cameras at both entrances are programmed to read license plates to identify cars whose drivers may have prepaid online, or have a monthly residential contract, or only want an hourly ticket. (No need to draw one from a machine; just wave at a screen and the ticket is dispensed.)

Parking spaces

Growth required more parking spaces in suburban malls and downtown stores

by Deena S. Hawkins on June 6, 2021

Getting the perfect parking spot is always a satisfying victory, but we often take for granted what that parking spot, parking lot or garage means to our city and our history. These photographs of the cars parked around the old City Market building and Ellis Square show how the need to park has changed our urban environment.

Automobiles have revolutionized nearly every facet of American culture, providing unprecedented convenience and accessibility, but perhaps with them too much has come. Historic cities like Savannah were not originally designed with the automobile in mind, so the need for a place to store them forced creative solutions at best, and destruction of sites and sites at worst. of historical monuments.

Savannah Archives: The roots of Savannah Pride; city archives history-related crafts for children

Savannah Archives:Trucks preserving by moving houses; order “fruit punch”

Savannah Archives:Public works are the key to infrastructure; local women in historic preservation

Parking Park & Shop in Ellis Square surrounded by on-street and above-ground parking, August 1970. MPC Historic Preservation Photo Collection, item 8126-006_01-4-0119.

Downtown businesses at risk of losing customers to suburban malls have argued for more and more parking. Unused lots were converted to surface parking lots, and multi-level parking garages were eventually deemed necessary to house the glut of vehicles that flooded downtown streets.

When it was built in the 1870s, shoppers used to tour the city’s old market building on foot, horseback, and wagon or streetcar. In the 1950s, vehicles were piling up around him on the street. When the market was demolished in the 1950s, it was replaced by the Park & Shop multi-level garage. While the increased parking density offered by Park & Shop has surely made life more convenient for downtown shoppers, Savannah has lost one of its most important landmarks.

Related: Savannah architect Eric Meyerhoff recalled for efforts to improve Savannah

Related: Senior Citizens Inc. names Legends, Leader and Life Well Lived winners

Related: Retired Architect’s River Street Collection Documents Savannah’s Waterfront Transformation

Cars parked around the old City Market building on Ellis Square, undated. MPC Historical Preservation Photograph Collection, item 8126-006_01-4-0124.

Another proposal in the 1960s suggested that River Street be turned into an additional parking lot for Broughton Street shoppers. Lucky for us today, architects Eric Meyerhoff and Robert Gunn instead envisioned a pedestrian plaza that transformed the waterfront from a neglected and abandoned harbor into an international destination thanks to the Riverfront Urban Renewal Project.

When the Park & Shop lease expired in 2004, the garage was demolished and, through an extensive public-private partnership, Ellis Square was renovated into a vibrant public gathering place with parking moved to a large underground lot. opened to the public in 2007.

City of Savannah Municipal Archives, [email protected], Discover the Archives: savannahga.gov/MunicipalArchives.

Parking spaces

Philadelphia business owners, residents at odds over city parking spots

by Deena S. Hawkins on May 20, 2021

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – Al fresco dining has been a necessity for businesses and a sense of normalcy for the past 15 months, but some say these temporary structures could create long-term parking problems.

“We want to make it permanent, we want to keep it,” said Erin Callahan, Managing Director of The Plow and the Stars.

Callahan said the expansion of outdoor street dining has been great for his restaurant’s business during the pandemic. However, in the 100 block of Chestnut Street, some of the outdoor dining establishments have reduced one lane of traffic and taken up parking spaces. And parking garages can be expensive.

To keep people coming back to town as more and more people travel again, Visit Philly is sponsoring free parking at the Independence Mall Car Park on Saturdays if you park after 10 a.m. and leave before 7 p.m.

“You will make the reception center your first stop. You will pick up a ticket when you enter the garage, then come to our information desk and buy a ticket worth $ 8 or more, and you park for free, ”said Jennifer Nagle, vice president executive of Independence Visitor Center Corporation.

Some tourists Action News spoke with said it would bring them back to Philadelphia again.

“We saw a parking lot yesterday for $ 37 for about 90 minutes. We were like good golly,” said Parik Patel, of Midland, Texas.

“We walked about 10 blocks here to find a seat. If some of this had been free it would have been a lot easier, especially for older people who can’t walk that distance,” Jatin Patel said. , from Dallas.

Some city residents who rely on on-street parking have said alfresco dining establishments are disrupting their quality of life and would like to see meals pushed back onto sidewalks soon.

“Those igloos up the street take away about four or five parking spaces, and the problem is when the business isn’t open at night, they still occupy the spaces,” said Prince Anthony Thomas, a resident. by Northern Liberties. “So, for residents here, they don’t have spaces and have to park elsewhere. “

As the city begins to ease restrictions on masks, some restaurant managers in the city have told Action News they fear they will lose the street dinner at some point.

A city spokesperson sent Action News a statement regarding alfresco dining in the city.

“Since launching in June 2020, the Philadelphia Outdoor Dining Initiative – launched as a temporary emergency support program – has helped more than 750 restaurants generate much-needed income by providing alfresco dining. , safely. Currently, the Temporary Outdoor / LINE catering program will continue until December 31, 2021, but there may be some adjustments this year.

As we move towards a full reopening, we are having regular discussions with the restaurant business community and looking at the complex issues around what elements of the program will need to be scaled back and what elements of the program might make sense to continue in. the longest term. We have no more to share at this time. ”

Parking spaces

Columbia restaurants can use the parking spaces but will have to pay for them

by Deena S. Hawkins on April 20, 2021

COLUMBIA, Missouri (KMIZ)

Columbia restaurants will have to pay to seat customers in blocked parking lots, but supporters are hoping the new law will still help businesses generate more revenue as social distancing requirements continue.

Columbia City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that will allow restaurants to use parking spaces for additional seating.

Temporary permits cannot last more than 90 days before the restaurant must apply for an extension. Ward 1 Councilor Pat Fowler successfully added an amendment to extend the period to 90 days – permits would expire after 20 days under the original order.

The measure is seen by many as a way to help restaurants as the pandemic continues. Restaurants had been subject to group size restrictions for several months. Those requirements are gone, but current health ordinances still require tables to be socially distant, limiting the number of customers that can be served at a time.

“We can support our businesses after COVID and get our restaurants and diners out safely and support our businesses, that’s what we need to do,” New Ward 2 Councilor Andrea Waner said during the debate. advice.

Waner said if there is a way to keep restaurants operating safely and to continue to reward them for their good work, the city has to do it.

It was made clear during the meeting that restaurants will have to pay for parking spaces so that the city does not lose revenue from parking meters.

Nickie Davis, of the Downtown Community Improvement District, requested 90 days for the length of time allowed because of the cost for restaurants to renew permits after 20 days and the need to hire more staff.

Davis said that many restaurants are now interested in this option and that the extended deadline is essential to maintain that interest. She said restaurants can fit around three tables in each parking space while maintaining social distancing. Each company would be entitled to two spaces.

“Can you imagine spending $ 3,000 for 20 days, let alone paying for those parking spots and potentially needing another employee, so 20 to 90 days is huge,” Davis said.

Davis said companies will need to have a platform built in the flesh to make it accessible to the ADA. She said there will also need to be barriers not only for security reasons, but also for the fact that people will not feel like they are eating on the streets.

Permits must be submitted 21 days before restaurants plan to begin outdoor seating. No permit shall be approved in areas where the speed limit is greater than 20 mph or for spaces less than 19 feet from the edge of a curb, a marked lane or the center line of a Street.

Restaurants will have to pay $ 10 per day for parking meters blocked by the outdoor dining room. If approved, barricades should be put in place around the area.

Tera Eckerle, director of Tellers Downtown, said the restaurant has no plans to use this option. The biggest problem with cashiers isn’t sitting – it’s the staff.

“When we set up our patio it’s already so chaotic and when we had events in the summer we brought in more tables. It was so painful to get everything out and everything in,” Eckerle said.

Billy Giordano, owner of Room 38 Bar and Lounge, said they won’t be using the parking spaces, but he thinks it will be a great opportunity for some businesses.

In addition to owning Room 38, Giordano also has staffing software that helps companies hire. He said he had seen the negative effects of stimulus packages on businesses in Colombia.

“A lot of people are just not willing to work right now with all the money they can make on unemployment and through stimulus checks,” Giordano said.

Eckerle said parking is already limited along Broadway, and if businesses start using it, the only parking available will be in parking garages.

“We also see so many accidents around the corner of Ninth and Broadway that it seems like it wouldn’t be safe or feasible,” Eckerle said.

St. Louis and Kansas City took similar steps in 2020 to help restaurants weather the pandemic.

Uncategorized

Latest e-book takes a look at waterproofing concrete parking structures

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 31, 2021

The magazine’s sponsored e-book series continues with an overview of waterproofing concrete parking structures.
Photo courtesy of RJC engineers

Owners, engineers and contractors involved in the design, operation, maintenance and restoration of parking garages and building podium decks should understand the role and importance of waterproofing systems in protecting these facilities. When there is a lack of attention to these systems, repair and maintenance costs increase and the expected life suffers.

The methods of protecting parking garages and catwalks have evolved and changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Old ways of thinking and designing have given way to new understandings of deterioration mechanisms and protection needs, some of which are reflected in the new requirements of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) S413, Parking structures. The better understanding of how moisture and de-icing salts accelerate the deterioration of concrete and steel structures has encouraged growth in this sector. The long-term performance of these buildings is directly related to the effectiveness of the watertight barriers used to prevent contamination by moisture and de-icing salts, as well as the management of salt-laden water entering the building. installation. An article in our latest sponsored eBook looks at waterproofing concrete parking structures.

This waterproofing article, along with two others, can be found in our latest eBook “How to Waterproof Concrete”, a free downloadable resource. To get your copy in pdf or digital format, visit www.constructioncanada.net/ebook/kryton-how-best-to-waterproof-concrete-e-book.

Parking spaces

How cities are reclaiming street parking spaces for public use

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 31, 2021

Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the richest men in American history, has said the best possible investment is real estate in New York City. More than 150 years after his death, his words turned out to be premonitory: real estate prices in the Big Apple have reached astronomical levels that even the Commodore himself could never have imagined. It’s easy to see why. Manhattan is an island, space is limited and demand will always exceed supply. Buildings may get taller and taller to accommodate a growing population, but they no longer make ground on them. But what if we all wake up one day and find that New York actually has over 20 square miles of land that no one has noticed before?

Today is that day.

Most people don’t think about parking spaces on the street. They are just a fact of life that we all grew up with and that we all accept as normal. People get into their cars, pull over to a sidewalk, enter a store or office, then get back into their car. Pretty simple, right? It’s also incredibly inefficient, it contributes to pollution and ultimately benefits a few people while bothering millions of others. The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed just about every aspect of our lives, and it has also given us the opportunity to take a step back and really reassess where we want our urban areas to go. And one of the main achievements is that street parking is detrimental to the life of a city.

There is nothing good about the pandemic, and I certainly don’t want to downplay the catastrophic effect it has had on so many families and businesses in the United States. It is nothing less than a national tragedy. But the massive changes caused by the virus have given us a unique opportunity to see how cities can be improved. In the end, none of us were prepared for the pandemic and our infrastructure was not up to par. The only reason we made it through last year was the heroic efforts of millions of people, including city and county officials who burned midnight oil to find solutions to a consuming problem. that no one had ever considered. event.

The Smart Cities Collaborative recently published a special report titled Covid and the sidewalk which explores how cities are making radical changes to street parking. Some jurisdictions actually create curbside parks that turn streets into bustling areas where people can meet and connect. Others are creating transit and bicycle lanes to reduce congestion. There isn’t just one right way to do it, but what is increasingly evident is that now is the time for innovative thinking.

The pandemic may have accelerated this conversation, but it has been going on for some time. Two years ago, the City Journal made a strong case to replace street parking with better options, and Bloomberg find that street space in Manhattan (most of which is free) had a real value of over $ 6,000 (per year?). It’s a lose-lose for everyone except someone from Westchester who wants to hit town for a night out, and that’s not a compelling enough reason to make 44% of Manhattan’s streets unusable. Most of New York’s two-lane streets are actually 50 percent blocked four-lane roads. If you’ve ever spent 45 minutes trying to walk six blocks during rush hour, you know how maddening it is.

The problem, of course, is people are still driving, and that won’t change next year. Thanks to the pandemic, fewer people are using public transportation in most U.S. cities, even as work-from-home policies have become the norm. How to reconcile the desire to reclaim parking lanes with the increase in the number of drivers? The good news is that this is not an insurmountable problem because it is not a situation of choice. This is where parking garages can alleviate just about any problem caused by street spaces without sacrificing drivers’ ability to safely access their workplaces.

At a basic level, this may sound a little optimistic. After all, as anyone who has walked in circles to park in a densely populated city like San Francisco knows, there never seems to be enough garages. But the reality is much more complicated: there are actually a lot of garages in just about every city, but in many cases these are not the “right kind” of garages. So while there may be waiting lists to get a coveted spot in a downtown office tower, it’s likely that a hotel three blocks away or an apartment building from the across the street has additional underutilized spaces. It is not a problem of supply and demand: it is a problem of information exchange. And cities that can figure out how to use empty parking spaces will have a lot more flexibility in their ability to reduce or eliminate on-street parking and reclaim thousands of square kilometers of prime urban properties for everyone to enjoy. can use and enjoy them.

Jeremy Zuker is the co-founder of WhereiPark, a technology company that enables owners of multi-family residential and commercial buildings to discover new sources of revenue through innovative solutions that exploit unused parking spaces.

Parking spaces

Boston planners approved over 11,000 new parking spots in 2020 – StreetsblogMASS

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 9, 2021

According to year-end statistics compiled by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA), Boston planners have approved 55 development projects in 2020 that will build more than 12,000 new homes, 6.5 million square feet of new commercial spaces and enough parking to store up to 11,162 additional cars – and almost all of that new parking lot would be built in transit-accessible neighborhoods within a quarter-mile of an MBTA station.

BPDA 2020 project approvals for mixed-use and residential developments

“TOD” denotes “transit-oriented development” – projects located within a quarter of a mile of an MBTA rapid transit or commuter train station. Source: BPDA


Purely residential projects	Total	in TOD	% NEVER
Projects	20	12	60%
Housing units	1,403	734	52%
Residential SF	1,437,173	714,254	50%
Other SF	112,450	34,587	31%
Parking spaces	660	113	17%

Mixed-use projects (excluding Suffolk Downs)	Total	in TOD	% NEVER
Projects	25	19	76%
Housing units	3 794	3 125	82%
Residential SF	3,809,345	3,218,896	84%
Commercial SF	1,831,079	1,819,753	99%
Other SF	739,548	653,732	88%
Parking spaces	3,542	3 267	92%

Suffolk Downs Project (Boston part only)	Total	% NEVER
Housing units	7,150	100%
Residential SF	7,310,000	100%
Commercial SF	3,210.00	100%
Other SF	470,000	100%
Parking spaces	6,760	100%

About three-fifths of this new parking lot (up to 6,760 spaces) and nearly two-thirds of the housing (7,150 apartments) would be concentrated in East Boston as part of the Suffolk Downs development, which offers direct access to two stations MBTA Blue Line. . This project is expected to be built in phases over the next decade.

Outside of the Suffolk Downs project, the BPDA has approved 4,402 parking spaces, 5,197 new housing units and 5 million square feet of space for commercial, institutional and other non-residential uses (for context, the huge Partners Health headquarters building adjacent to the Assembly Orange Line station in Somerville contains approximately 825,000 square feet of office space).

Although the BPDA is allowing massive amounts of new parking throughout the city, the parking-to-housing ratio has declined this year from 2019, when the agency approved 4,762 new homes and enough parking for 5,080 cars. .

Development data from 2019 shows almost all new housing in Boston is built for car owners

Among the 20 purely residential projects approved in 2020, developers would build 1,403 new apartments and 660 new parking spaces, or approximately one parking space for 2 apartments.

But among the subset of 12 apartment projects that would be located within a quarter of a mile of an MBTA rapid transit or commuter train station, the parking ratio was significantly lower: a total of 113 new parking spaces for 734 apartments (0.15 spaces per housing unit).

The vast majority of new developments in Boston are mixed-use, with a mix of residential and commercial space. These projects had higher ratios of parking spaces per apartment, but their garages could also be shared with commercial tenants.

In addition to the Suffolk Downs Master Plan, the BPDA approved 25 other mixed-use projects in 2020, of which residential uses were the main overall component.

These projects (excluding Suffolk Downs) would build approximately 3,023 new homes, 2.6 million square feet of office, retail and other non-residential space, and 3,542 parking spaces.

Boston’s modest drop in parking-to-apartment ratio this year can be attributed to the Metro Planning Commission 2019 “Perfect fit” report, who investigated parking usage in new residential developments in Boston and its suburbs, and found ample evidence that developers built an excessive amount of parking in new residential developments, at the expense of traffic and the affordability of public transportation.

StreetsblogUSA: apartments with free parking reduce public transport ridership

A handful of projects that the BPDA approved in 2020 avoid all on-site parking, whatever it is: a new mixed-use building proposed for Boylston Street in the Fenway neighborhood, for example, would add 477 new apartments with retail and theater space on the ground floor, without a parking garage.

And in Roxbury, the project Northampton Street Residences (pictured at the top of this article), will replace an above-ground parking lot with a new 6-story building containing 47 affordable homes adjacent to Southwest Corridor Park, just one block from the Massachusetts Ave station. Orange Line.

Most of the BPDA-approved commercial and institutional construction projects that were approved in 2020 will also not build new parking garages.

Last year, the BPDA approved 2.3 million square feet of new construction among 9 non-residential projects, including hotels, offices and laboratory buildings.

According to the BPDA, only two of these projects will include on-site parking: a new television studio WBZ-TV on Soldiers Field Road in Allston, which will include a 140-space parking lot, and a multi-building project in Kenmore Square, which will include a 60-space parking garage.

BPDA 2020 project approvals for commercial and institutional developments

“TOD” designates projects located in neighborhoods oriented towards public transport. Source: BPDA

Purely commercial projects
	Total	in TOD	% NEVER
Projects	7	5	71%
Total area	1,610,458	1 445 385	90%
Parking spaces	200	60	30%
Purely institutional projects
	Total	in TOD	% NEVER
Projects	2	2	100%
Total area	688,750	688,750	100%
Parking spaces	0	0	0%

Parking garage

The new cool in parking garage design

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 2, 2021

The new cool in parking garage design

Columbus Ohio parking garage, Schooley Caldwell Architects. Image © Brad Feinknophf

Parking garages present an aesthetic challenge to even the most creative design minds. Their vast scale and monotonous appearance is necessitated by their function, but comes with the difficulty of making garages visually interesting instead of just overwhelming. Coating a parking garage in a single material can add visual interest and texture to create a more human connection. However, this in turn creates concerns about bringing light and air into the garage.

To balance the aesthetic and functional needs of parking garages, Kaynemaile reinvented two-thousand-year-old chainmail armor into an architectural mesh that reduces solar heat gain and creates an interesting facade while allowing ventilation and transparency. visual. Unlike a panel facade, this system can be manufactured to any height and width without the need for annoying joints, ideal for large scale applications like a massive garage. Here are some case studies that take advantage of the unique properties of this polycarbonate mesh.

Bold waves for the Pacific Fair parking garage

Located on the Gold Coast in Australia, this parking lot had a predetermined structural framework within which the pavement system would need to function. With the unlimited screen size, however, designers always had the opportunity to explore different design concepts. Reducing heat gain while maintaining airflow was crucial in the subtropical climate of the Hold Coast. Kaynemaile reduces both radiant heat and thermal conductive heat by up to 70% without sacrificing daylight, ventilation or visual transparency.

The three-dimensional facade creates a wave pattern, reminiscent of the neighboring Pacific Ocean, using a layer of champagne-colored mesh in front of a second translucent navy-colored mesh. The double layers give the facade a radically different look from day to night. In daylight, the sun catches the rippling champagne mesh, hitting it at different angles across the facade. At night, on the other hand, architectural lighting highlights the marine layer behind, which ripples in the breeze as the structure shines from within.

Sun shading for the Westfield carousel

Westfield Carousel is a shopping center near Perth, Australia. Three-dimensional mesh pyramids span the four facades of the huge complex, for a total area of nearly 7,000 square feet (or 650 square meters). The pyramids are created from a shimmering bronze colored mesh which gives a vibrant look to the Australian sun.

The steel substructure was installed first, with a Kaynemaile mesh then applied to each rectangular frame. The simple and versatile mounting system made installation quick and easy, even given the scale of the project. Again, for Australia’s hot climate, it was imperative to keep air flowing throughout the garage. The mesh has an open structure of about 80%, which means that it will not hamper ventilation in the parking lot.

Seamless parking garage exterior inspired by leather sofa

This multi-story parking lot in Adelaide was covered with just eight Kaynemaile mesh screens, the largest of which was about 190 feet wide by 52 feet high (or 58 by 16 meters). The unique design was inspired by a leather sofa and involved large-scale prototyping to achieve the desired look while maintaining fast installation speeds. Each large screen has been lifted and secured in a single day, the faceplate features “buttons” that give depth and texture to the screen through the way sunlight bounces off them.

The system is durable and impact resistant, yet flexible enough to allow for creative and organic facades like this one. The mesh is made from high performance thermoplastic which is thermally stable from -40 to 428 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 to 120 degrees Celsius). It won’t oxidize or corrode like wire mesh, and it won’t stain surrounding surfaces with rust when it rains. The mineral pigments are unalterable and the mesh also retains its tensile strength over time. The material is fully recyclable using low-energy processes and its unique manufacturing process reduces waste by producing only the amount needed for each job.

For more information on Kaynemaile, check out their first E-Paper.

Parking garage

State College: Parking Garage Repair and Construction Overview

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 2, 2021

State College Borough has been asked to spend around $ 4 million over the next three years – and $ 7.3 million on a 10-year plan – to keep its four parking lots in working order, based on a report examined Monday by the borough council.

According to the condition assessment report, which is carried out by an external consultant approximately every seven years, repairs should be made to correct structural problems, improve waterproofing, stabilize cracked facades and other fixtures, in order to ‘Ensure the garages and their 1,563 combined parking spaces last.

The projected cost this year alone is $ 1.48 million, nearly half of which is for the Beaver Avenue garage.

“These are expenses that are going to be necessary to maintain these vital parking assets,” added Ed Holmes, interim parking director for the borough.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 on the borough’s parking fund – on-street parking and garages remained free for long periods of 2020 – the borough will have to borrow money for the three-year plan short term and refinance the old debt. The Board will have to approve everything and it is expected to vote on the borrowing authorization at the next regular meeting on March 15th.

Here’s a closer look at each parking garage, recommended repairs / issues and associated costs, by Walker Consultants at Monday’s Borough Council meeting:

Garage on avenue des Castors

Built: 2005 (Precast concrete of normal weight)

Parking spaces: 529 (195,000 square feet)

Estimated costs over 3 years: $ 1.21 million

Estimated costs over 10 years: $ 3.28 million

Walker Consultants Condition Assessment Report

Yes, this is the “new” – or at least the “newest” – garage. But, at 16, it’s time to invest more in repairs so it can last another 40 years, officials said. This is why the projected costs of this garage over the next decade are over $ 1 million more than the next most expensive garage.

One of the main concerns here, at least in the short term, is the loose, cracked and bulging thin brick facade. Most of the loose areas were removed in January, but Walker Consultants said the extent of the damage was more severe than initially thought – and recommended removing the brick facade entirely and replacing it with a textured coating to prevent the brick from potentially falling on pedestrians. .

Repairing this brick facade is expected to cost about two-thirds of the estimated $ 741,000 in repairs to the Beaver Avenue garage for 2021. This ($ 485,000) is more than double the facade repair costs for the other three garages – combined – over the next 10 years.

“This brick is starting to present security problems”, admitted the director of the borough, Tom Fountaine. “So we’re going to have to sort this out. “

Overall, however, the garage is still considered to be in “good” condition. Other problems include chips and cracks in the stairs, occasional deterioration at the base of some handrails, loose support rods, sealant issues, window seals in fairly poor condition, broken light fixtures or aging, door rust, damaged / missing signage, etc.

Fraser Street Garage

Built: 1985 (CIP P / T Normal weight concrete)

Parking spaces: 335 (154,000 square feet)

Estimated costs over 3 years: $ 564,000

Estimated costs over 10 years: $ 929,000

Although it is the second oldest parking garage in the borough and the third largest, its projected costs remain the cheapest.

“Very minimal work must be done with the Fraser Street garage over the next few years,” said Borough Facilities Director Thomas Brown.

Walker Consultants has labeled the garage as in “fair” condition with the garage having at least 10 years in its lifespan. However, in order for it to last a little longer, the garage will need to modernize and maintain its waterproofing system due to corrosion and deterioration.

The maintenance cost in 2021 here will be around $ 124,000. The most expensive repair will be the injection of epoxy into the concrete slabs, with an expected price of $ 34,500. Other issues to be addressed include deterioration / cracking of beams, separation near vertical joints, unpainted edges, changes in elevation (slopes) that need to be painted, leaching, sealant of perimeter windows, corrosion of balustrade bases, etc.

McAllister Street Garage

Built: 1991 (Precast concrete of normal weight)

Parking spaces: 218 (66,000 square feet)

Estimated costs over 3 years: $ 645,000

Estimated costs over 10 years: $ 1.1 million

The smallest car park in the city center of the district has no particular problems. In fact, the problems here are recurring.

The McAllister Street garage has a number of chips and cracks in the concrete at the roof, in addition to broken shear connections. “We’ve been doing it for years in this parking lot,” Brown said.

That garage shouldn’t be a priority this year, with just $ 20,000 in costs planned – and $ 625,000 in costs planned for next year.

According to Walker Consultants, the structure is in fair condition with some areas in poor condition, such as the poured-in-place concrete retaining wall along the exterior ramp. Other issues include loose aerial concrete, broken concrete at edges, wall cracking due to moisture issues, out-of-code ramps, washout, leak stains, column deterioration, worn paint, faulty window seals, clogged drains, etc.

Pugh Street Garage

Built: 1972 (CIP P / T lightweight concrete)

Parking spaces: 491 (158,000 square feet)

Estimated costs over 3 years: $ 1.43 million

Estimated costs over 10 years: $ 1.98 million

Pugh Street is unique in several ways. On the one hand, it’s the oldest downtown garage in the borough for 13 years – and it’s the only garage to use lightweight concrete. Maybe then it shouldn’t be too surprising that this garage is nearing the end of its lifespan, even with repairs.

Depending on the borough, the Pugh Street garage can probably be used for another 7-10 years. After that? Well, that’s something the borough council will have to discuss. (“Strategic abandonment” or a new structure are the two options.) Either way, in order for this garage to remain functional in recent years, there are some structural components that need to be repaired. Further tests are also underway to rule out a change in the quality of the concrete, which could increase expected costs.

The cost in 2021 alone will be $ 591,000, with the largest expense – repairing slab edges due to cracks – accounting for more than half of that amount. Other issues include sealer failures, deterioration of edgings and columns, rusted handrail bases, out-of-code ramp guardrails, washout cracks, paint peeling, elevator maintenance , dirty and aging signage, etc.

The full report on the condition of the four garages, and their associated costs, can be found on Monday’s Borough Council agenda at statecollegepa.us.

Uncategorized

Milwaukee Council Requires Safety Plans for Parking Structures

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 26, 2021

Milwaukee city officials are targeting violent assaults and other crimes in places the FBI considers most dangerous: parking lots.

Under a new ordinance expected to come into effect next month, owners of parking lots and structures will be required to submit safety plans to the police before approval of the license to practice. Locations that have two or more incidents per month will be ordered to implement additional security measures, such as adding cameras or barriers, increasing lighting, or other improvements recommended by police. , under penalty of losing their license.

A security incident is defined as any activity on the premises which results in “damage to parking customers, vehicle vandalism, theft of vehicles or property inside vehicles or any other incident that threatens health, safety or security. safety and well-being of customers ”.

“This is a monumental achievement for the city to prevent future injuries and deaths of parking lot users,” said Randy Atlas, a Florida-based building safety expert who teaches crime prevention through environmental design.

The order comes following the gruesome murder of a nurse practitioner walking to her car after completing her shift at Froedtert Hospital in 2019 and a subsequent investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealing serious flaws in security in hospital parking lots nationwide.

Parking lots in general, whether in hospitals, schools or nightclubs, are the third most common site of homicides, assaults, kidnappings and other crimes, according to FBI figures analyzed by the Sentinel Journal.

The city passed an ordinance targeting more than 65 downtown parking lots in 2018 after a spate of crime in the parking lot of the intermodal station on St. Paul Avenue. The latest ordinance extends the coverage area to the entire city.

Better surveillance and better security are needed in parking areas “because the area is often deserted, easily accessible, poorly lit and for other reasons,” the ordinance specifies.

Mayor Tom Barrett signed the ordinance on Wednesday, according to his spokesperson.

It is not clear, however, whether the ordinance will tackle crime in parking lots and private structures, such as those owned and operated by hospitals and other employers or apartment buildings. As written, it applies to garages or lots on which “a business is carried on to store motor vehicles where the owner or person storing the vehicle must pay a fee.” It exempts lots of 15 boxes or less.

While employees at many hospitals pay to park on the job, hospitals don’t always charge visitors. One of the co-sponsors of the ordinance, Ald. Bob Bauman, said he would like the ordinance to apply to all parking lots used by the public, whether or not a fee is charged. He said he was asking the city attorney for an opinion on the matter.

“We are trying to resolve the backdoor issues you detailed, through licensing,” Bauman said in an interview with Journal Sentinel. “The emergency solution to this is human surveillance with eyes, ears and mouths that can talk on the phone and call for help. “

In the dark:Read the survey

Thomas Smith, security consultant for the nationwide healthcare sector, praised the Joint Council’s action, but said more needed to be done.

“I think that’s a good place to start. However, I would suggest adding specific requirements,” said Smith, who has been a consultant for hospitals for 20 years.

Atlas, hired by Journal Sentinel to assess parking lot security at five Milwaukee-area hospitals, agreed.

“This is a great intention,” Atlas said, “but they didn’t sweat the details of the implementation.” He said the ordinance did not explain the design features of crime prevention. pedestrians, ”he said. “There must be a lot more detail in the law. “

The lack of adequate security in the parking structure at Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in eastern Milwaukee is at the center of a lawsuit brought by a woman who was stabbed more than a dozen times by a foreigner in 2018.

Lawyer Benjamin Wagner, who represents the woman, applauded the council’s action.

“This is a big step forward in requiring owners who invite the public to their premises to take reasonable security measures,” said Wagner. “It can only help.”

“Parking lots are inherently dangerous places because people are quite vulnerable when they are in a parking lot, especially when there is poor lighting and easy access to those who intend to engage in a parking lot. criminal behavior, ”Wagner said. “It’s not just about hospitals, but every hospital knows or should know and be aware that parking garages have had problems in the past.”

For Interstate Parking, which operates about three dozen parking lots and lots in downtown Milwaukee, including the intermodal station, the parking ordinance passed in 2018 has proven to be helpful, said the president of the company, Tony Janowiec.

Janowiec said this forces parking garage owners to be proactive in terms of safety, which gives the public confidence when visiting the city center.

“Sometimes having that interval to sit down and look at the data is beneficial,” Janowiec said. “Did it make a difference? I guess without that there would be a higher rate of break-ins and possibly injuries. … I think people should embrace it.

Contact Raquel Rutledge at (414) 224-2778 or [email protected] Follow her on Twitter at @RaquelRutledge.

Parking garage

Des Moines could buy foreclosed The Fifth parking garage for $ 40.5 million

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 11, 2021

The city of Des Moines could shell out around $ 40.5 million to buy a 751-space parking lot, part of a downtown complex called The Fifth that is in foreclosure after developers fail to pay a loan to construction.

Des Moines has offered to buy the 11-story parking lot, which is now “essentially complete,” at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street, according to a petition filed Friday night. The final price will vary as the loan earns $ 3,306.40 in interest daily. The actual value of the structure is also unclear as far fewer employees work and park downtown during the pandemic, and it’s unclear how many will return.

The garage is the first of three buildings, including a 40-story skyscraper, planned for the complex. The future of The Fifth is uncertain amid ongoing legal action.

Bankers Trust Co. and Christensen Development, whom a court appointed to oversee the completion of the garage, filed a fast-track application to have the court allow the sale because “the delays increase costs at a substantial rate given the amounts owed. “, indicates the query. Christensen Development was granted permission to sell the garage when it was appointed receiver in October.

The city also requested an expedited hearing on Monday, according to a statement from City Manager Scott Sanders.

It’s unclear whether the city would operate the parking garage to recoup the $ 40.5 million spent to buy the property or attempt to sell it to another owner.

Sanders declined to comment further.

The progress of the $ 170 million project has been marred by delays, which is the main point of contention for the ongoing legal proceedings.

Plans call for the garage to form the base of the 40-story tower, which would house apartments, a 21C hotel-museum. and a bar. A separate five-story building would house an Alamo Drafthouse cinema as well as two floors of offices and a restaurant on the ground floor.

Mandelbaum Properties won a bid in 2017 to develop the city-owned site, which previously housed a dilapidated parking lot. Under a complex development agreement, the company had to have completed the garage by August 16, 2020 and have started construction of the tower by October 31, 2019. In return, the city granted it a forgivable loan of $ 4 million and up to $ 10 million in tax rebates.

Des Moines filed a notice of default against the developer in June for failing to meet these deadlines.

In September, Bankers Trust Co. filed a foreclosure petition against Justin and Sean Mandelbaum and 5th and Walnut LLC, alleging that they had failed to pay a $ 48 million loan for the garage that was due the previous month. The property was to go up for sale immediately – with the city listed as a junior lien holder – unless the developers ask for a delay, according to the petition.

A week after the lockdown, the Mandelbaum brothers filed a counterclaim seeking $ 101 million in damages from the city. They alleged that Des Moines officials committed “flagrant violations” of the development agreement, falsely declaring the project in default and ultimately triggering the foreclosure petition. The cross-claim seeks a temporary injunction preventing the city from recovering the property.

► More:Faced with default, developers of downtown Des Moines skyscraper sue city for $ 101 million

Todd Lantz, attorney for the Mandelbaums, said in a statement that the proposed sale “comes as no surprise.”

“In fact, it confirms exactly what our clients alleged in their lawsuit against the city last fall – that the city’s multiple and inexcusable violations of its development agreement were designed to get the project back in hand,” said Lantz.

A rendering of the Alamo Drafthouse cinema in "The fifth" in downtown Des Moines.

Justin Mandelbaum previously told the Des Moines Register that his company had requested time extensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous negotiations for the extensions, carried out in late 2019 and throughout 2020 as Justin Mandelbaum said construction documents were being finalized, never resulted in formal agreements approved by city council. The city even offered an additional payment of $ 2 million after the tower was completed, although that provision never received a council vote.

If the sale is approved, the foreclosure petition against the Mandelbaums would be dismissed and Christensen Development would no longer act as receiver.

In the sale proposal, Bankers Trust attorney Mark Rice wrote that neither the bank nor Christensen Development believed they could sell the garage for a higher price if they were to proceed with a foreclosure sale.

The real estate market for this type of property is limited, they argue in the motion. The two declined to comment when contacted by the Registry.

Des Moines currently has seven downtown parking garages. A 2016 analysis showed that aging ramps saw their annual revenues fall by $ 3 million over five years, and garages had a deficit of $ 19.1 million over a decade.

At the time, city leaders talked about reducing the number of city-owned spaces, increasing parking fees, and even subsidizing bus passes and Uber riders. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the number of workers driving downtown, as many businesses have moved to virtual operations. A major downtown employer, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., offered one of their buildings for rent.

It is not known what impact additional parking would have on the city budget, especially one of this price. By comparison, a 600-space parking garage at 402 E. Second St. cost about $ 20 million to build.

Des Moines City Council is expected to authorize the purchase of The Fifth parking lot and a judge is expected to approve the motion before it can go to council. This approval is expected to arrive before January 21 to be included on the January 25 meeting agenda.

The bank hopes to finalize the sale by March 31.

Meanwhile, Lantz, the Mandelbaums’ attorney, said the developers hope to continue working on the rest of the project, including the hotel and the apartment tower. The garage’s sale price is about $ 8 million less than the original loan, which “confirms that the Mandelbaums were on track to complete the parking lot several million dollars less than budget,” he said. -he declares.

“The city’s actions last summer and now are focused on confiscating these savings, even though the savings were contractually promised to the developer,” Lantz said in a statement. “The Mandelbaums expect similar success if they are allowed to build the remainder of this large mixed-use project downtown. “

Kim Norvell covers Growth and Development for the Registry. Contact her at [email protected] or 515-284-8259. Follow her on twitter @KimNorvellDMR.

Parking garage

Confusion over building codes keeps hospital parking lot lights in dim light

by Deena S. Hawkins on September 23, 2020

Dimly lit parking lots aren’t just a backdrop for spooky movie scenes.

Darkness is real in parking lots across the country. And so do the crimes and the dangers that come with it.

This has been the case for decades, even though recent FBI data shows parking lots – in hospitals, hotels, or downtown offices – are the third most common site of homicides, assaults, and other serious crimes.

Why did darkness prevail?

One answer is buried deep in obscure international building code guidelines, in a section that indicates whether buildings are “occupied.” Even though hundreds of people can use the parking structures 24/7, they are classified as “storage” spaces.

Other responses play on the seriousness with which regulators, lawmakers and parking lot owners take responsibility for providing a safe space for visitors and employees who use the structures.

RELATED: A nurse survived a brutal attack in the parking lot of a Chicago hospital. Decades later, she still feels the pain and trauma.

In Milwaukee, at least two aldermen hope to tackle the problem at the municipal level where lighting plans are being implemented without review by regulators and authorities say they now have limited ability to enforce city codes. parking areas.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation published last month revealed how hospitals, especially across the country, fail to adequately protect employees from parking lot violence, choosing not to monitor cameras, improving the ‘lighting and patrolling, or offering employees convenient escorts to their cars during the tour. – the clock is changing.

Last year, nurse practitioner Carlie Beaudin was beaten to death in a parking lot at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa after completing her shift.

As recently as last week, a doctor in Edina, Minnesota was shot in the head during an attempted robbery in the parking lot of the hospital where he worked.

The Journal Sentinel hired a safety consultant to assess eight parking structures at five hospitals around Milwaukee. The consultant’s spot checks revealed serious security deficiencies and unsafe lighting in every location.

“If they don’t want to provide more lighting, they can opt out of the business,” Ald said. Bob Bauman referring to owners of parking garages. “It comes down to the economy. They would rather settle multi-million dollar lawsuits largely paid for by insurance companies rather than endure day-to-day increases in their operating budgets. “

Froedtert Hospital reached an out-of-court settlement in November with Nick Beaudin, Carlie’s husband of nine years, for an undisclosed sum.

Certain security measures in parking structures – from better lighting to the presence of on-site parking attendants and frequent patrols – could be enforced through licensing requirements, Bauman said.

In 2018, the Common Council passed a law revising the licensing of downtown parking structures, requiring all owners to submit a police-approved safety plan and – if they have more than two incidents of parking. security per month – to implement additional security measures such as improved lighting, video surveillance and other actions directed by the Milwaukee Police Department.

“The Medical College of Wisconsin might solve their problem tomorrow: hire 50 people to patrol the area on foot, by bike on Segways, you name it,” Bauman said.

As for lighting, Bauman and Ald. Legislation co-sponsored by Nik Kovac was introduced on Tuesday to address gaps that have created confusion over lighting requirements and could also force the city to start inspecting lighting plans before construction, Kovac said. at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Mayor Tom Barrett is aware of the problems, according to his spokesperson, Jodie Tabak. “As issues arise, we will respond appropriately,” Tabak said in an email response to questions from Journal Sentinel.

Confusion reigns

One of the reasons authorities struggle to enforce better lighting rules stems from an International Building Code directive that cities often include in their own city codes. It classifies parking structures as “storage” facilities.

Some developers, planners, and garage owners argue that this means they don’t need to adhere to higher artificial lighting requirements for spaces people use.

Occupied buildings should have an average of 10 foot candles of light, according to the International Building Code. The Arcane Sound Foot Candle is the amount of light equivalent to what a candle would illuminate in an area of 1 square foot. The light level inside most large grocery stores, for example, is about 30 foot candles. Movie theaters register approximately 0.5 to 1 when darkened during screenings.

Other city regulators and some members of the International Code Council say that when you park your car in a structure and walk to and from a building, you are occupying the structure and it should follow general lighting guidelines. interior.

Still others, including town planners in Milwaukee, say the issue is not so much whether the structure is occupied, but rather whether the structure is closed, like the underground parking ramp where Beaudin was beaten. to death.

Closed structures are interiors and must meet the average standard of 10 foot candle, said David Rhodes, building and building inspection supervisor in the City of Milwaukee’s Neighborhood Services Department.

During a spot check in May 2019, the consultant hired by Journal Sentinel found light readings ranging from 4 to 6.5 foot candles in the area of the Froedtert hospital garage where Beaudin was killed. Surveillance video showed her killer prowled the hospital and garage for more than two hours before Beaudin drove to his car after finishing his shift around 1 a.m. – but no one was watching the cameras .

Rhodes said that “open” garages – those with outside air between floors – are not subject to indoor artificial lighting standards because they let in natural light.

But what about at night?

As it stands, nothing requires that open garages have more than the mandatory one-foot candle in fire codes to find emergency doors, even in the dark of night, a he declared.

“At the moment we have codes that don’t get you closer to what you would like from a security standpoint,” he said.

“It is an emergency rescue device”

Kimberly Paarlberg, senior architect at the International Code Council, stressed that building codes are a bare minimum. Designers and builders can – and often should – go beyond guidelines, she said.

“The guidelines are not intended to protect people from assault,” Paarlberg said. “The building code doesn’t assume a bad guy is there.”

Codes aren’t the only problem behind poor lighting. In Milwaukee, code enforcement supervisors say they’re not allowed to inspect parking lots for light levels or anything else – unless someone drops off a car first. complaint.

Unlike restaurants, which city officials inspect annually, the city does not have the staff to inspect every garage, said Mike Mannan, building code enforcement manager for commercial properties for the City of Milwaukee.

“Every inspection is like a search,” he said. “We cannot search illegally. We need a complaint.

Thomas Smith, healthcare safety consultant, said safety really comes down to the priority choices made by parking structure owners. They often choose to spend more time and money on landscaping and aesthetics than on safe lighting and security, he said.

A broken down emergency call booth is shown in Parking Ramp B on Monday, May 13, 2019 at Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Milwaukee Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel hired an architectural safety consultant to assess the parking ramps at five Milwaukee hospitals.

Each of the hundreds of hospital parking structures Smith assessed has a percentage of burnt out bulbs and blue light emergency phones that don’t work, he said.

“I always say, ‘Which of you wouldn’t take care of your defibrillator properly? “It is what it is,” he said.

“It’s an emergency rescue device. “

To make a lighting or code complaint about a parking lot in Milwaukee, notify the Commercial Code Enforcement Division of the Department of Neighborhood Services through the complaint line at (414) 286-2268; or use the Click for the action portal: https://city.milwaukee.gov/ucc/action; or complain through a smart phone using an app called the MKE mobile action app where you can also submit photos. Instructions on how to download are here: https://city.milwaukee.gov/ucc/mkemobile.

Read the survey

To read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s In the Shadows survey of violence and lax parking lot security, visit jsonline.com/intheshadows.

Parking spaces

Developer proposes to reduce number of residences and parking spaces in Bethesda project

by Deena S. Hawkins on September 14, 2020

A rendering of the proposed residential buildings and the connection of a floor to the ground floor.

Courtesy of documents from the Montgomery County Planning Department

A developer seeking to build two apartment buildings adjacent to the Bethesda Marriott on Pooks Hill Road has proposed to join the two towers with a lobby on the ground floor and reduce the number of units and parking spaces included in the project.

Next week, the Montgomery County Planning Council will consider the proposed change that would reduce the number of units from 631 to 562 and reduce the number of parking spaces from 804 to 520, according to the planning documents.

Plans for the previous project called for the construction of two buildings with separate entrances and parking garages, but updated plans link them to a lobby on the ground floor.

A report from Planning Board staff does not explain what prompted the change.

Each tower will be approximately 135 feet high, according to Planning Board documents.

The proposed changes would reduce the overall density of the development from 645,657 square feet to 510,000 square feet.

Fifteen percent – about 84 – of the 562 units will be designated as affordable housing, according to local law. The 520 parking spaces would be in an underground parking garage under the residential building.

The Planning Council will review the changes at its September 24 meeting.

Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at [email protected]

Parking spaces

New developments create free parking spaces and years of maintenance costs as sales concessions

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 27, 2020

In recent months, wealthy buyers looking for security and personal space have flocked to the vacation and single-family home markets across the country, leaving a few new condo developments in the cold.

And for buyers always interested in the vertical life, there has never been a better time to negotiate. But rather than offering blatant discounts, many developers are filling the gap with unusually spectacular concessions, covering things like closing costs and decorating expenses to free up parking spots worth tens of thousands. of dollars.

“We certainly see developers being creative, paying a few years of common charges and taxes, either by giving big discounts or adding storage and parking,” said Stephen Kliegerman, president of Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing.

Following: The ultimate equipment for working from home: private office suites

“If the sellers don’t concede, there’s just no deal, for the most part,” added Rachel Glazer, New York-based Compass agent. “What I see the most are young professionals taking advantage of the reduced interest rates and also the softer market as an alternative to leasing.”

While many individual sellers simply choose to withdraw their listings from the market until conditions are more favorable, new developments often lack this luxury, with loans that they are required to repay on a specific schedule. and pressure not to lower prices and lower turnover for the rest of the building.

“In quality luxury buildings that have their finances in order and don’t have construction loans, they can resist [the downturn]”said Vickey Barron, a Compass agent in New York.” Others you can get [a net discount] 20% off because they don’t have time. They have financial commitments that are owed, and they need to build momentum.

Following: LA home with ceiling made from tiny skylight listings for $ 25 million

While this phenomenon appears to be most pronounced in New York City, which faced excess new development inventory and sluggish sales even before the pandemic, high increases in other cities are not exempt.

“The condo market has really slowed down. People don’t want to live in multi-family homes, ”said Jill Epstein, agent at Nourmand & Associates in Beverly Hills, California. “We just closed an upscale condo last week and the concession that was offered was some personalization [to the apartment] and a little more flexibility in pricing. In general, I haven’t seen prices drop yet, but when the market adjusts, condos are the first to be affected and the last to recover.

Standard dealerships get super big

Concessions are an integral part of negotiating new developments and are not necessarily a sign of market instability. But in all respects, the current offerings go beyond what is usually offered.

For the developer, the coverage of transfer taxes – which vary between 0.4% and 0.65% for New York State and between 1% and 1.425% for New York City – is now a given in New York. York, said several brokers, many of whom are also now prepared to cover the cost of the so-called state residency tax, which can reach 3.9% of the sale price, as well as mortgage taxes for buyers using financing.

“There are no buyers right now in a new development who will be paying transfer taxes,” said Kobi Lahav, director of sales for Living NY.

Common charges are also more negotiable than usual, especially in areas where building amenities such as gymnasiums and other shared spaces are currently not accessible to residents. While it’s more common to have a year or two of common charges covered by the developer, in today’s climate that number can increase.

Following: Penthouse at the Porsche Tower in Miami for $ 17.5 million

“They want to keep the higher price lens,” said Seth Levin, a broker with Keller Williams New York City. “I heard about a development they were talking about paying for 10 years of common charges. It was for a very high price, tens of millions of dollars. “

Developers can also lower the net price with closing credits, which are not reflected in the recorded sale price but can significantly reduce buyer’s expenses.

“We see [closing credits] in almost all closures, ”Mr. Lahav said. “On a million dollars, you can get a $ 25,000 closing loan. Or let’s say your closing cost is 5% of the purchase price, the way it works is the developer will pay for it. It’s not money in your hand, but you use it to pay your lawyer, pay housing tax, pay for improvements to your apartment. It works just like giving the apartment a discount, it just doesn’t show up on the books.

More specific credits are also offered to buyers interested in covering decorating or moving costs, Ms. Barron said, or, in one case, having the developer agree to pay for two years for the Uber’s rides. Buyer.

Following: Developer unveils first model unit in world’s tallest residential tower

Buyers “take the offer with this list of things that would normally look crazy, but now [developers] say ‘Okay, we’re going to do this or that,’ ”Ms. Barron said. “It’s more and more common, and it’s no longer the exception to the rule.”

Parking garages, storage spaces and other areas already owned by the building are also more negotiable than usual and can add significant value to a transaction without affecting the final sale price.

“It has always been another way for developers to make money on the building, selling storage, rooftop cabins, parking spaces,” Lahav said. “Right now, all of those things are up for grabs. In many cases, the parking spaces that are worth $ 50,000 or $ 60,000, they will now throw them away. These things are sold separately, and when the market recovers in the future, there is nothing to stop you from selling them to your neighbor.

Following: Jon Bon Jovi sells Palm Beach Manse for around $ 20 million

Creative approaches to financing

Low mortgage rates, which averages around 2.87% on Friday mean that the majority of buyers in the market are currently interested in financing, and their loans may become another area of negotiability.

“Sometimes the developer will offer to help them lower their interest rate, paying a point or two on their mortgage to reduce the rate further,” Kliegerman said. “We’ve also seen developers who in the past weren’t open to mortgage contingencies and are now. (Mortgage contingencies allow buyers to opt out of transactions without penalty if they are unable to secure financing.)

Villa Valencia, a development in Coral Gables, Florida, offers to fund the buyer’s 50% down payment at a 0% rate.

Following: A Florida condo that thinks it’s a beach house

“We will finance the deposit at zero cost, with a guarantee against the buyer’s first mortgage [on a primary residence]Said Rishi Kapoor, CEO of Location Ventures, the developer of the project. “It takes that math of thinking, ‘I don’t want to move money. We give them 90 days after the closing date to pay off the mortgage, giving them time to list their home and weather the market uncertainty.

Option-to-buy lease options are also appearing for buyers who are unwilling or unable to make a large down payment but want to lock in a competitively priced sale.

“There are different ways to structure it, some buildings will count the full year’s rent as part of the purchase price,” Ms. Glazer said. “Others will be a part of it. I have a deal we’re working on where the buyer just can’t close for a year because they need to release funds.

Following: To boost sales during lulls in the luxury market, developers are adopting option-to-buy lease programs

The net discount to which it all adds up varies with price, and overall units priced above $ 4 million have more room to negotiate than their cheaper counterparts. Buildings early or late in their sales process are also the most likely to offer big discounts, Ms. Barron said.

“In new developments we were already seeing a typical discount of around 7% [prior to the pandemic], and now it’s probably over 15% with everything in it, ”Mr. Levin said. “If you can get 15-17% off a $ 5-7 million property, you’ve done pretty well.”

He added, “There are nuances, but it’s simple: the developers are suffering right now. But they want to protect their prices and are ready to get creative.

This article originally appeared on Global Manor.

Parking spaces

New developments offer free parking spaces, years of maintenance costs as sales concessions

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 26, 2020

In recent months, wealthy buyers seeking security and personal space have flocked to vacation and single-family home markets across the country, leaving some new condo developments out in the cold.

And for buyers still interested in vertical living, there’s never been a better time to bargain. But rather than offering overt discounts, many developers are closing the gap with exceptionally dramatic concessions, covering things like closing costs and decorating expenses for free parking spaces worth tens of dollars. thousands of dollars.

“We’re definitely seeing developers being creative, paying a few years of common charges and taxes, either by dramatically reducing or adding storage and parking,” said Stephen Kliegerman, president of Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing.

Following: The ultimate work-from-home equipment: private office suites

“If sellers don’t cave in, there’s just no deal, for the most part,” added New York-based Compass agent Rachel Glazer. “What I see most are young professionals taking advantage of lower interest rates and also the somewhat softer market, as an alternative to renting.”

While many individual sellers choose to simply pull their listings from the market until conditions are more favourable, new developments often don’t have that luxury, with loans they are required to repay on a specific schedule. and the pressure not to lower prices and a drop in turnover for the rest of the building.

“In quality luxury buildings that have their finances in order and don’t have construction loans, they can survive [the downturn]said Vickey Barron, a Compass agent in New York. “Others you can get [a net discount] 20% because they don’t have the time. They have financial commitments that are due, and they need to build momentum.

Following: LA home with ceiling made from tiny skylights sells for $25 million

While this phenomenon appears to be most pronounced in New York, which faced excess inventory of new developments and sluggish sales even before the pandemic, sharp increases in other cities are not exempt.

“The condominium market has really slowed down. People don’t want to live in multifamily housing,” said Jill Epstein, an agent at Nourmand & Associates in Beverly Hills, Calif. “We just closed a high end condo last week and the concession that was offered was some customization [to the apartment] and a bit more flexibility in pricing. In general, I haven’t seen prices drop yet, but when the market adjusts, condominiums are the first to suffer and the last to recover.

Standard Concessions Get Super Sized

Concessions are an integral part of transactions in new developments and are not necessarily a sign of market instability. But in all respects, the offers currently on offer go beyond what is generally offered.

For the developer, covering transfer taxes, which vary between 0.4% and 0.65% for New York State and between 1% and 1.425% for New York City, is now a matter of course in New York , said several brokers, and many are also ready to do so. to cover the cost of the so-called state mansion tax, which can reach 3.9% of the sale price, as well as mortgage taxes for buyers using financing.

“There is no buyer right now in a new development who is going to pay transfer tax,” said Kobi Lahav, sales manager for Living NY.

Common fees are also more negotiable than usual, especially in areas where building amenities like gymnasiums and other shared spaces are not currently accessible to residents. While it’s more common to get a year or two of common charges covered by the developer, in today’s climate that number may increase.

Following: Penthouse in Miami’s Porsche Tower Lists for $17.5 Million

“They want to keep the higher price optic,” said Seth Levin, broker at Keller Williams in New York. “I heard about a development they were talking about paying 10 years common charges. It was for a very high price, in the tens of millions of dollars.

Developers can also lower the net price with closing credits, which are not reflected in the recorded sale price, but can significantly reduce the buyer’s expenses.

“We see [closing credits] in almost every fence,” Mr. Lahav said. “On a million dollars, you can get a closing credit of $25,000. Or let’s say your closing costs are 5% of the purchase price, the way it works is the developer will pay for it. It’s not money in your hand, but you use it to pay your lawyer, pay the tourist tax, pay for the improvements to your apartment. It works just like giving you a discount on the apartment, it just doesn’t show up in the books.

More specific credits are also offered to buyers interested in covering decorating or moving costs, Ms. Barron said, or in one case, the developer agreeing to pay for two years for the buyer’s Uber rides. .

Following: Developer unveils first model unit in world’s tallest residential tower

Buyers “accept the offer with this list of things that would normally look crazy, but now [developers] say ‘Okay, we’re going to do this or that,'” Ms Barron said. “It is becoming more and more common and is no longer an exception to the rule.”

Parking garages, storage spaces, and other areas already owned by the building are also more negotiable than usual and can add significant value to a transaction without affecting the final sale price.

“It’s always been an additional way for developers to make money from the building, selling storage, rooftop cabanas, parking spaces,” Mr Lahav said. “Right now, all of these things are up for grabs. In many cases parking spaces that are worth $50,000 or $60,000, they will now just throw it away. These things are sold separately, and when the market recovers in the future, there is nothing stopping you from selling them to your neighbor.

Following: Jon Bon Jovi sells Palm Beach Manse for around 20 million dollars

Creative approaches to financing

Low mortgage rates, which averaged 2.87% on Friday mean that the majority of buyers in the market today are interested in financing, and their loans may become another area of negotiability.

“Sometimes the developer will offer to help lower their interest rate, paying a point or two on their mortgage to lower the rate further,” Kliegerman said. “We’ve also seen developers who in the past weren’t open to mortgage contingencies and are now.” (Mortgage contingencies allow buyers to walk away from transactions without penalty if they are unable to secure financing.)

Villa Valencia, a development in Coral Gables, Florida, offers to finance the buyer’s 50% down payment at a rate of 0%.

Following: A condo in Florida that thinks it’s a beach house

“We will finance the deposit at zero cost, with security against the buyer’s first mortgage [on a primary residence]said Rishi Kapoor, CEO of Location Ventures, the developer of the project. “It takes that calculus out of thinking, ‘I don’t want to move money.’ We give them 90 days after the closing date to be able to pay off the mortgage, giving them time to list their home and weather the market uncertainty.

Lease-to-own options are also emerging for buyers who are unwilling or unable to make a large down payment, but want to close a sale at a competitive price.

“There are different ways to structure it, some buildings will count the full year’s rent towards the purchase price,” Ms Glazer said. “Others will be part of it. I have a deal we’re working on that the buyer just can’t close for a year because they need to free up funds. »

Following: To boost sales during luxury market lulls, developers embrace rent-to-own programs

The net discount this all adds up to varies across price points, and overall, units priced above $4 million see more room for negotiation than their lower-priced counterparts. Buildings early or late in their sales process are also most likely to offer deep discounts, Ms Barron said.

“In new developments, we were already seeing a typical discount of around 7% [prior to the pandemic], and now it’s probably more like 15% with everything added to it,” Levin said. “If you can get a 15% to 17% discount on a $5-7 million property, you’ve done pretty well.”

He added, “There are nuances, but it’s simple: Developers are hurting right now. But they want to protect their prices and are willing to get creative.

Click to read more news about new luxury developments

Uncategorized

What are the advantages of prefabricated parking structures?

by Deena S. Hawkins on June 1, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO—With the possibility of more people driving to cities and workplaces rather than taking public transportation once staggered workforces are given the green light, parking structures will be in greater demand. When considering building a parking structure, how can homeowners determine which type is best for a given project?

Rodney Riddle, Vice President of Parking Structures at McCarthy Building Companies Inc., recently shared his thoughts on the advantages of using pre-engineered deliveries over cast-in-place deliveries.

GlobeSt.com: What is the difference between precast and cast-in-place concrete parking structures?

Screen: When it comes to parking structures, there are three types to consider.

Placing the concrete: These structures are constructed using ready-mixed concrete poured into removable forms on site. High-strength cables in concrete are anchored at the outer edges and tensioned after the concrete has acquired sufficient strength (48 to 72 hours). Post-tensioned concrete is a very common type of concrete structure for parking garages today, especially for those above ground.

Prefabricated double tee: As the name suggests, a prefabricated, prestressed double tee looks like two capital Ts side by side. Panels, stringers, columns and double tees are fabricated off-site and assembled on-site. High-strength tendons in concrete are anchored to the outer edges of concrete forms and prestressed before the concrete is placed, then released once the concrete has acquired sufficient strength. In California, this method requires that a cast-in-place cap slab be placed over the double tee members to create a structural diaphragm and accommodate seismic requirements.

Concrete/precast hybrid: It is a composite structural system that uses the prefabrication process for columns and beams and decks formed and cast in place. Precast beams are bonded to cast-in-place bridges by weaving the bridge reinforcement through the exposed reinforcement casting in the precast beams.

GlobeSt.com: What are the pros/cons of each delivery?

Screen: Delivery of cast-in-place concrete offers the best seismic performance and the lowest cost solution. Its lighter structure equals fewer footings and fewer seams, which minimizes the amount of ongoing maintenance for items such as sealant replacements and reduces overall project lifecycle costs. This option also allows greater flexibility for mechanical, electrical and plumbing/MEP design. On the other end, cast-in-place concrete involves a higher field labor risk and longer construction time with more concrete pour days involved.

Prefabricated double tee structures require a large initial investment for engineering and prefabrication, but construction time can be faster than other types of structures. These structures require less on-site construction time by using most of the labor in a controlled prefabrication plant. Structurally, these buildings involve longer-term maintenance and appear darker from a lighting perspective after completion.

The hybrid option merges the advantages and disadvantages of cast-in-place and pre-engineered deliveries. These structures also require a large initial investment for engineering and prefabrication, but construction time can be slower than other types of structures. For contractors who do not have labor available, these types of structures reduce the amount of labor required on site and instead use labor from the precast plant .

GlobeSt.com: How can owners determine which method is best for a given project?

Screen: It really comes down to evaluating what is considered the best value for the homeowner based on a full understanding of the pros and cons of each type of structure. If lower costs and long-term durability are important, then cast-in-place should be considered a higher value. If construction speed is more important, a pre-engineered double tee option should be considered higher value.

Regardless of the type of structure used, selecting a contractor who performs structural work in their own strength can provide benefits to owners in terms of cost, schedule and quality control of the project.

Parking spaces

Development of downtown Raleigh means fewer parking spaces, garages

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 12, 2020

RALEIGH

Finding a parking spot in downtown Raleigh will become more difficult this year when two garages are demolished for future development.

But the compression should be temporary.

More parking spaces and garages will open in 2021 and 2022, giving the city more parking than it currently has.

Raleigh City Council was briefed on the downtown parking offer during a meeting on Tuesday.

City officials are hoping to add nearby park-and-ride parking – where people can leave their cars and catch a bus downtown – but the timing and location have yet to be determined.

Raleigh should also consider partnerships with businesses and private organizations to fill the parking gap.

There are 8,000 parking garage spaces, 680 surface parking spaces and 1,550 metered spaces, and the city has approximately 60% of these spaces. This gives the downtown area about 500 more parking spaces than is currently needed to meet demand, said Matthew Currier, Raleigh’s parking manager.

The parking lot at The News & Observer’s former home (near Nash Square) holds around 300 cars, and the Alexander Square parking lot (near the capital) holds around 700. Both will be demolished this year, leaving 500 spaces for short of town. of demand, Currier said.

The first phase of the development of Smokey Hollow is expected to open in 2020, which will add approximately 1,000 spaces. But these spaces are closer to Glenwood South and not in the central part of downtown.

Then in 2021, the city should see a surplus of nearly 3,000 parking spaces with the addition of parking lots at 2 Glenwood, Smokey Hollow phase two and 301 Hillsborough.

This surplus increases to more than 7,000 spaces compared to current demand with the addition of the 400H building, the Nexus, 121 Fayetteville and the development on Carbarrus Street.

In the long term, the city may consider selling some of its parking lots or redeveloping properties.

Turning these parking garages into pedestrianized urban developments should be a priority for the city, said Jonathon Melton, board member.

Listen to our daily briefing:

This story was originally published 12 March 2020 5.30 pm.

Anna Johnson covers Raleigh and Wake County for the News & Observer. She has previously covered city government, crime, and business for newspapers across North Carolina and has received numerous North Carolina Press Association awards, including first place for investigative reporting. She is a 2012 alumnus of Elon University.
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Uncategorized

New Smyrna Beach could add downtown parking structures

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 6, 2020

New Smyrna Beach could add downtown parking structures

The City found that many were unhappy with the parking lot around Flagler Avenue.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL. – Beachgoers and New Smyrna Beach residents might see more parking options around Flagler Avenue, as the city plans to implement a downtown parking garage.

The City of New Smyrna Beach conducted a survey of residents who asked them about parking and found that almost everyone said there were parking issues around Flagler Avenue.

“Ninety-seven percent of the people who responded said there was a parking problem on Flagler Avenue and they would like that problem resolved,” said Phillip Veski of the City of New Smyrna Beach.

People say parking near the beach can be hectic.

“It’s a bit clustered, a bit chaotic, and if you get there at the wrong time you won’t find parking,” said Laila Costello, who travels to New Smyrna Beach a lot.

The city is working on three potential ideas to alleviate downtown parking problems:

A parking garage that would have a store front downstairs and multiple parking levels above. Plants would hide the structure of the parking lot.

A Park-and-Ride system that would have a parking lot further away and a shuttle to the beach

Metered parking on Flagler Avenue

Currently, parking on Flagler Avenue is free, and people can park on the beach and nearby lots for an additional fee.

Some beach goers say they think providing more parking options will entice people on Flagler Avenue to shop and dine in New Smyrna Beach.

“If you want to get off and maybe just have lunch or something, you might not find parking and you could go somewhere else,” said Eddie McQuillan.

However, not everyone is on board.

Some people tell FOX 35 News that they think parking will take away the uniqueness of New Smyrna Beach.

“Absolutely not,” said resident Jean Reddington. “New Smyrna Beach has always been a wonderful, quaint little town that we all love and if you start putting in parking garages it will take away the historic charm of the town.”

New Smyrna Beach will hold a meeting on Tuesday, March 10 at 4 p.m. to review the survey results and discuss potential parking options for the city.

They ask residents and others to attend and share their opinions.

The meeting will be held at New Smyrna Beach Town Hall.

Parking spaces

Big SUVs, vans overtake garages and parking lots

by Deena S. Hawkins on March 5, 2020

Parking your truck is getting more and more difficult.

Across America, the search for larger vehicles faces physical limitations. SUVs and pickup trucks get so big that they struggle to fit into some homes, parking garages, and public parking spaces.

Owners may have to think twice before purchasing bigger vehicles, as parking lot operators start charging oversized fees to accommodate giant SUVs and trucks.

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SUVs like the Chevrolet Suburban and the Ford Expedition and pickup trucks like the Fiat Chrysler Ram are examples of popular vehicles that have grown in size in recent years, testing parking limitations.

When Kristen Trevino recently moved into her new home in the Dallas area, she ran into a problem.

His 2016 Ford F-150 did not fit in the garage. Without getting discouraged, she bought the 2019 model. That one didn’t fit either.

“It’s too high. It’s too long, she said. Now she keeps it parked in the driveway.

His next door neighbor also has an F-150 and has just enough room in his garage.

“He can knock his own in,” she said, but added that he “touches his front wall and barely clears the door.”

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Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports, said the trend was becoming an issue. “They are very difficult vehicles to maneuver” and to park.

Take Tesla’s Cybertruck. The the massive electric pickup with stainless steel body debuted at a media event in November, while CEO Elon Musk boasted that the Cybertruck would be the fiercest and most efficient pickup on the market when it arrives in late 2021. Commercial demand, he later said, has already exceeded expectations.

But some fans interested in the Cybertruck fear they won’t have enough room for it.

Jim Griffin is Room A. The Pennsylvania resident recently placed a refundable deposit of $ 100 to secure his place in the Cybertruck queue. But he is not sure whether to proceed with the purchase after reading online discussions about the immense size of the vehicle.

“They’re like, ‘This thing is huge and it won’t fit in your garage,’” he said. “That’s when I said, ‘Hang on a second here, time out. This thing may not be suitable.

And installing the pickup in your garage is a dealbreaker.

“Today there are people who buy Dodge Rams, Ford pickups that don’t fit, and they park them outside,” he said. “The difference here is that it’s an electric vehicle and… you have to plug it in. I’m not going to spend $ 50,000, $ 60,000, $ 70,000, $ 80,000 on a vehicle and then have to run an extension cord outside the garage or an outside outlet. “

Pennsylvania resident Jim Griffin's Honda Pilot barely fits in his garage, so he's worried the Tesla Cybertruck won't fit if he decides to buy one.

Parking any vehicle in the driveway or on the street exposes it to potential damage from inclement weather, vandalism or theft.

The Cybertruck is so big that it could be classified as an average pickup if its batteries rock its total weight above 8,000 pounds, said Stephanie Brinley, senior automotive analyst at research firm IHS Markit.

After a Tesla blogger posted a video simulation showing that the Cybertruck may not fit in some garages, Musk tweeted that the company is considering certain adjustments in response to the concerns.

“We can probably reduce the width by an inch and maybe reduce the length by more than 6 inches without losing utility or aesthetics,” he said.

Tesla engineers are also equipping the Cybertruck with air suspension, he said. This would allow owners to lower the height of the vehicle to fit it into a garage.

Would your garage fit the Tesla Cybertruck?

Residential garages vary in size. Common sizes for newly constructed two-car garages include a number of dimensions: 18 feet wide and 20 feet deep; 20 feet by 20 feet, 22 feet by 22 feet and 20 feet by 22 feet, according to garage builder Danley’s. But some garages, including older ones built in the age of smaller vehicles, can be even smaller.

At 231.7 inches long, the Cybertruck would only have about 8 inches to spare in a 20-foot-long garage. Better be a big parker to drive that one in.

It’s not the only vehicle that will struggle to fit in. At 225.7 inches long, the newly redesigned and elongated 2021 Chevrolet Suburban would technically fit into a 20-foot-deep garage, but it’ll only have 14.3 inches to spare.

Even though larger SUVs and vans can technically squeeze in, many owners pack shelves, tools, and other items into their garages, reducing space to store their vehicles.

Griffin, for example, said he had laundry supplies in part of his garage.

“If you look like a Suburban or a Ford Expedition these days they’re huge and I’m not sure they would fit,” he said. “I even watched one once and I’m not so sure.”

“The next generation Suburban is going to be so big – my wife is driving one – that you won’t be able to park it in the garage,” said Jeff Dyke, president of Sonic Automotive, one of the largest auto dealer networks in in the United States “The Tahoe is the new Suburban, and the new Suburban is a school bus.”

But that’s what Americans want, he says. “Gasoline prices are low, they are reasonable and the country is in love with SUVs. “

Oversized parking fees

As residential garages get narrower and narrower, public parking garages and public parking spaces are also feeling the pinch.

Who among us hasn’t walked through a mall parking lot and seen huge SUVs and vans hanging several feet from the end of space?

“The parking spaces are not big enough,” said Dyke of Sonic Automotive. “The parking lots are not big enough to accommodate all the cars coming out. “

Dallas area resident Kristen Trevino's 2019 Ford F-150 pickup won't fit in her garage, so it's parked in the driveway.

Trevino, the Dallas-area resident whose F-150 does not fit in her garage, said she has personally experienced the frustration associated with the size of her pickup.

“My truck is really big,” she said. “Trying to maneuver in a space sucks. If you go to the mall and it’s crowded, finding a seat is a huge factor. I really have to spend time looking.

In parking garages, this is especially problematic if they have low ceilings and sharp turns.

Parking.com, the consumer brand of publicly traded parking and transportation provider SP Plus, is starting to adjust its business to handle larger vehicles. The company is already charging oversized fees for large SUVs and trucks in some batches, especially in New York City, said Jeff Eckerling, director of growth for SP Plus.

He said the company may have to consider going further if vehicles continue to grow.

“We’ll have to look at what our rates are and what we charge for these vehicles,” he said. “If you’re on surface land, we could (say) that if you park and your vehicle goes over two spaces, we could charge you for two spaces. “

For SpotHero, an app that sells parking at more than 7,000 locations across the country, oversized charges are currently limited largely in New York City, where about 11% of vehicles must pay extra.

Now, some New York lots are starting to charge “super oversize” fees, which apply to truck-based SUVs and vans, while the “oversize” fees apply to crossovers.

In the rest of the country, “parking operators could pull a page out of New York’s playbook and start charging oversized fees for larger vehicles,” said Elan Mosbacher, senior vice president of strategy and operations. operations at SpotHero.

While larger vehicles can pose some drawbacks, Americans don’t seem too bothered by this overall, at least if the vehicles introduced by automakers are any indication.

In fact, several recent announcements suggest that vehicles should continue to grow. General Motors announced that it will revive the mammoth Hummer as an electric pickup truck under the GMC brand. Ford is also set to showcase a redesigned F-150 later this year, and it will likely be larger than the previous generation.

George Augustaitis, Director of Automotive Industry and Economic Analysis at Cargurus.com, speculated that Ford might even consider bringing back the Excursion nameplate as the biggest SUV in its lineup, despite the Expedition having grown significantly in recent years.

“Everything is getting bigger,” he said.

“We never really know where the end will be,” said IHS analyst Brinley. “People buy what they want to use. Whatever their personal reasons, whatever their situation in their life, they decided it was worth it. It is not critical, it is just a fact.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.

Uncategorized

Parking lots in Old Town Fort Collins are free Saturday through New Years

by Deena S. Hawkins on December 2, 2019

Holiday shopping is stressful enough. Now, patrons of Old Town Fort Collins can enjoy a little more holiday cheer on their next trip to downtown: free parking on Saturdays.

The City of Fort Collins has announced that parking in downtown garages will be free from Saturday through New Year’s Day. This is in addition to free parking at the facilities on Sundays and holidays throughout the year.

Participating parking garages include the Old Town Parking Garage, 100 Remington St .; Fire station garage, 160 Chestnut Street; and the Civic Center garage at the southeast corner of Mason Street and Laporte Avenue.

This year, Fort Collins changed the way people pay to park in downtown garages. Drivers must now prepay to park rather than taking a ticket when leaving. The first hour at the Old Town garage and at the Civic Center garage is always free.

Users can either enter their vehicle’s license plate number and payment (cash or credit card) at a payment terminal, or use the city’s FC Parking app on a mobile phone.

Another novelty in the garages are signs indicating the number of parking spaces available on each level of the structure. Drivers can spot open spaces from a distance using the lighting system above each booth. Green lights indicate free space.

Parking spaces

Pitt Article Shows Parking Spaces Near East Liberty Bus Station 30% Underutilized | News | Pittsburgh

by Deena S. Hawkins on October 16, 2019

CP Photo: Aaron Warnick

East Liberty Bus Station

As a rule, new developments come with new parking spaces.

Most people in Pittsburgh travel by car, and developers assume that most people visiting their new retail and housing structures will need parking spaces. As a result, developers tend to build a lot of parking. However, there are pockets in Pittsburgh where this logic does not work. According to a 2018 report by a University of Pittsburgh graduate student, one of these areas appears to be near the East Liberty bus station.

The report is titled “Measuring the Parking Characteristics of Transit Oriented Development” and it examines the use of large parking structures near the MLK East Busway station in East Liberty. It was written by a then graduate student at Pitt.

Three parking structures near the bus station were analyzed: the Target garages, the Eastside Bond apartment complex, and the Walnut on Highland apartment building. These garages, according to the study, are all considered a Transit Focused Development (TOD) because they are so close to a busy transit station, the East Liberty Bus Station, not to mention several other popular bus stops.

Data was collected from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. over three days in 2018: Tue 9 October, Thu 11 October and Sat 20 October.

The article’s findings indicate that all three stations oversized their parking structures by 30 percent.

“When you compare the actual usage to the built capacity of each TOD and the total study area, the usage rate is between 52% and 70% during the weekend rush hour and during the week, ”reads the report. This means that these TODs were at least 30% oversized at the time of construction.

Click to enlarge

Screenshot of the report

East Liberty Study Area Showing Transit Focused Development

This study adds context to a battle over parking spaces currently taking place during the redevelopment of Shakespeare Giant Eagle in Shadyside. The developers want to build 492 parking spaces in the planned grocery / housing complex located just meters from the East Liberty bus station.

Advocates want the developer to build fewer parking lots and have caused them to reduce the number of spaces to 550, but they believe that number could be reduced even further. Housing and transit advocates believe the money saved could be used to build more affordable housing or to pay for transit passes for residents of the new complex.

The developers disagree. John Clarkson of Greystar Real Estate Partners, who is working on the apartments for Shakespeare’s proposal, said CP in September that he recognizes that developers should build projects with less parking, but that in this case the demand is there.

“We don’t want to build more parking,” Clarkson said. “But for now, I would say we need a parking lot for this project. ”

The report also shows that there are already too many off-street parking spaces in this area.

Eastside Bond Garage has a total of 554 parking spaces. The garage is open to the public during the day and there are also a number of rented parking spaces for residents of the 360 housing units. Peak daytime use occurs between 6-9 a.m. and 6-11 p.m. During those times, usage was between 55 and 65 percent. On weekends, the peak usage was about the same.

This means that even at peak times there were still around 200 empty spaces in the garage which sits almost directly above the East Liberty Busway station.

Click to enlarge

Screenshot of the report

Use of the Eastside Bond car park

According to figures from the Port Authority, this station has 4,200 combined departures and stops (total number of passengers getting on and off the bus at the station) per weekday. This actually exceeds the number of weekday activations and deactivations at the First Avenue Downtown light rail station. Including all bus stops within a four-minute walk of Shakespeare’s development, including the bus station, more than 6,700 people get on and off the bus.

Laura Wiens of the local Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) organization wants developers to build less parking. She presents the study as proof of what her group advocates.

“In light of this, it becomes very clear that we are building too many parking lots,” says Wiens. “Especially right next to East Liberty Transit Station, the best transit area in town.”

Port Authority spokesperson Adam Brandolph said the authority was aware of the study because of its potential impacts on transit decisions and pressure from the authority to advocate for the TOD.

He says the Port Authority did not verify the numbers in the report to verify their accuracy, but the “finding supports our anecdotal evidence.”

According to the report, the East Liberty Target parking lot has 446 parking spaces used by public customers. Its peak usage occurs between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. and is between 49 and 52% on an average weekday. On weekends, peak usage jumped to 57-60 percent, and also occurred in the early afternoon. Even at its peak, there were well over 100 spaces available for parking.

Click to enlarge

Screenshot of the report

Use of the East Liberty Target parking lot

The Walnut on Highland garage, which is reserved for tenants of the two adjoining apartment buildings with a total of 194 units, contains 182 private spaces. Buildings are occupied at a rate of 97 percent, but only about 70 percent of parking spaces are used.

The report also examines on-street parking in the area near the East Liberty bus stop and notes that peak usage is around 77% on weekdays and 83% on weekends.

Wiens says future developments in the area should focus on housing density and try to limit the number of parking spaces built.

“It’s a great opportunity,” says Wiens. “We need more density. It will encourage more people to use [transit]. When you build more parking, you [give] incentive for more cars to come to the neighborhood.

Wiens also notes that there is a lot of money the developers are setting aside for parking spaces. A PPT article argues that Shakespeare’s developers could save $ 4.6 million if they reduced the number of parking spaces to align with the minimum zoning requirements at East Liberty, which is one parking space for two. housing units. (Shakespeare’s proposal is technically in Shadyside, where the minimums are higher, but the developers have convinced city officials to accept a gap to lower them earlier.)

CP Photo: Jared Murphy

The giant eagle of Shakespeare street

A UCLA 2014 study shows that surface parking garages required by parking minimums increase the average U.S. project cost by 31 percent.

Wiens says it makes financial sense and would be a boost to economic equity in the region if less parking was built at Shakespeare’s site, especially if the money saved was used to build more affordable units and / or provide residents with transit passes.

“When we talk about overbuilding hundreds of spaces, like in Eastside Bond and Target, it adds up to millions of dollars,” says Wiens. “There is so much wasted space. ”

She says this makes housing unaffordable for residents, which is only exacerbated by the fact that these units are close to frequent and good public transport, which is more frequently used by low-income people.

“This money should be used for free bus passes,” Wiens says. “If you have 30 people getting free bus passes, that reduces parking requests.”

Read the full report below.

Parking facilities

The town of Wheeling resumes its parking lots

by Deena S. Hawkins on September 30, 2019

Posted: Sep 30, 2019 / 5:46 PM EDT
/ Update: Oct 1, 2019 / 2:40 PM EDT

WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) – For at least 20 years, the Town of Wheeling has contracted out the operation of its parking lots.

However, this deal with Anthony Wayne Oil Company ends Monday night at 11.59pm.

From Tuesday, the city will operate its own facilities.

Three parking lots and six surface lots will be taken over and managed by employees of the Town of Wheeling.

When we started looking at automation several months ago, we found some things that were worrying us, and we put all of that together and kind of looked at where we were at. And under the administrative code, the general manager has the power to effect the management change in accordance with the authority, and I decided to do so.

Bob Herron, City Manager of Wheeling

Bob Herron says the city will run it for several weeks or months before making a recommendation to council as to whether the city should continue to manage the facilities or hire an outside agency to manage them.

Anyone interested in temporary part-time jobs in one of these car parks can apply to Wheeling’s human resources department.

The three parking garages are the intermodal center, the tenth street garage and the center haulage garage.

The above ground lots are on 9th Street, Market Street, behind the Sims Tower, behind the WesBanco Arena and on 22nd Street.

Parking spaces

Study finds 30% of parking spaces in new apartment buildings are unused

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 24, 2019

The answer, says Hart, is generally yes.

She is the main author of a study published on Wednesday by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which investigated nearly 200 apartment buildings inside Route 128 and found that about 30 percent of their parking spaces are unused, even in the wee hours of the day. morning, when most residents are probably at home.

It is a discovery with major implications for the housing crisis in the region.

Building parking garages is expensive and the unused space devoted to cars cannot be easily reused for parks, squares or larger housing units. Yet officials in many towns and villages, under pressure from residents worried about losing street parking to newcomers, are demanding that new buildings include one parking space for each unit, and sometimes more.

Such policies should be reconsidered, said Hart, who argues that more on-site parking encourages car ownership and is often not necessary, especially in places well served by the MBTA. .

“These cities have a lot of opportunities to really shape the development models in the future,” she said. “If you’re looking to build a community that has a lot of traffic and shows and all that, build a lot of parking. If you want a more workable and sustainable community, build less.

Hart led a team of MAPC researchers on the study, which simply counted the number of cars parked in 189 apartment and condo buildings in 14 towns and villages, between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. In total, nearly 20,000 parking spaces were counted.

The researchers found empty spaces all over the place, with an average building’s parking lot being about 30% vacant. Buildings with easy MBTA access to employment centers, or with more affordable housing, tended to have more empty spaces. Buildings located in higher income neighborhoods and, perhaps ironically, those that offered more parking per unit, tended to have less.

This is an indication that parking requirements are often too high, said Tim Reardon, director of data services at MAPC. The report estimates that an average parking space costs $ 15,000 to build – much more in underground garages – a cost that then goes into rents whether the space is used or not.

A view inside the garage at 160 Pleasant St. in Malden Center.David L Ryan / Globe Staff / Globe Staff

Reardon said there is at least some evidence that the presence of on-site parking attracts high-income renters. This, in turn, increases everyone’s rent.

“It creates a convenience that developers then charge for,” Reardon said. “Essentially, by creating lots of parking lots in areas oriented towards public transport, we are increasing the cost of housing. “

There are places that try to go the other way.

The city of Boston, for example, typically requires less parking in buildings in its denser neighborhoods and near MBTA stations. In recent years, it has allowed a few buildings with no parking at all – sometimes coupled with rules that even prohibit their future residents from receiving on-street parking permits.

But restrictions may face a fierce pullback in places like Brighton and South Boston, where new developments have sprung up and competing for street parking can feel like blood sport.

Just this week, amid criticism from neighbors and locally elected officials, developers who want to turn the shuttered Edison power plant in south Boston into a 1.8 million square foot campus with housing and offices. pledged to incorporate more than 1,200 parking spaces into the project, including 120 reserved for neighborhood residents at night and on weekends – a deal specifically requested by U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch, a Democrat.

Some inner-city towns are trying new approaches themselves. Arlington allows developers to build less parking than normally required if they subsidize T passes or pay an allowance to residents who do not have a car. New buildings in Watertown may choose to rent parking spaces, at market rates, separately from apartments. It’s an option that has proven popular with developers, said Laura Wiener, senior transportation planner in Watertown, and compelling to neighbors worried about increased traffic on their street.

“The best argument for this is that it reduces traffic,” she said. “If there are 10 cars for 10 units, instead of 20 cars for 10 units, there will be fewer cars on the roads.”

The more flexible approaches to parking are an improvement over rigid space-per-unit rules, Hart said. And the region will need more communities to adopt such rules as the region becomes increasingly congested, making every acre of asphalt all the more valuable.

“We counted 6,000 empty spaces in the middle of the night,” she said. “Imagine how many are vacant in the middle of the day.”

Tim Logan can be reached at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter at @bytimlogan.

Parking spaces

Vancouver will gain 700 parking spaces

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 8, 2019

Downtown Vancouver is set to gain more than 700 parking spaces over the next three years, in a series of projects that includes corner parking on wide streets and partnerships with private companies to build parking garages.

The city’s parking strategy also includes getting people out of their cars – expanding public transit options, making downtown more walkable, and increasing parking rates.

The plan indicates an inherent tension in creating a parking strategy. How do planners weigh the immediate needs of drivers against the city’s long-term goal of reducing the number of cars?

“It really is a balancing act. We try to ensure that there are enough parking spaces available, convenient and easy to find, but not so much that it interferes with active uses. We don’t want a sea of parking lots that create dead zones,” said Chad Eiken, director of community and economic development.

During a presentation to City Council Monday evening, Parking Manager Steve Kaspan and Eiken presented the city’s six-point strategy to improve parking conditions in downtown Vancouver.

The plan includes maximizing on-street parking, increasing the supply of on- and off-street spaces where possible, increasing monthly and hourly parking rates, encouraging downtown businesses to reducing parking demand, improving visitor wayfinding and working with contractors to build parking structures.

Increase in supply

This summer, some downtown Vancouver streets wide enough to accommodate corner parking spaces will again be striped, replacing them with less efficient parallel parking for a net gain of about 80 spaces.

The change will add 29 parking spaces on West Evergreen Boulevard and 21 on nearby thoroughfares. Another 22 spaces will be added around King Street, and eight more spaces will be added in a short stretch of West 13th Street near Main Street.

Most of these spaces will be for employees who work at nearby businesses rather than buyers or short-term visitors. The work should be completed by the end of the summer.

“This project would definitely help with employee parking demand downtown,” Kaspan said.

A 121-space municipal parking lot, located just west of City Hall, is also scheduled to be completed this summer. The lot would house city employees, who pay $50 a month for permits. A limited number of monthly permit spaces would be open to the general public.

The city is also exploring the possibility of a partnership with the private sector that would turn empty land at 15th and Main streets into a temporary parking lot for use during construction of a new apartment complex at Providence Academy. The construction would displace approximately 176 private parking spaces, and the lot at 15th and Main could accommodate 126 of them.

In the long term, Vancouver envisions large-scale partnerships with private sector companies. A 740-space, seven-storey car park would be seen on Block 7 of The Waterfront Vancouver development, which is slated to open in late 2021.

“Everything is ripe for redevelopment.” said Eiken. “Now that the waterfront has some momentum, studies suggest the time is right to move forward.”

Another proposal, still in its infancy, would build a garage at Terminal 1, owned by the Port of Vancouver, and create more than 900 parking spaces.

In total, Eiken and Kaspan predicted that the city will add 1,067 parking spaces and lose up to 343 over the next few years.

Reduce demand

Beginning January 1, 2020, monthly public parking rates will begin to increase by $5 per year in an effort to bring city surface lot rates in line with private lot rates.

“If we have waiting lists – which we do – then the price is too low,” Kaspan said.

Another solution to reducing downtown parking demand comes in the form of fast electric vans that already contract with companies to transport employees to satellite lots.

The company Rethink Your Drive, or RYD, is launching an app this month and plans to start promoting public use of the service in August. While the company’s fleet of four vehicles would be busy during peak hours, the service would be free and open to the public at noon.

“During the day, as vehicles are available, it would be a free service and they would transport people to where they want to go downtown,” Eiken said.

The parking discussion is both philosophical and practical. While councilors agreed that the growing population of employees, visitors and residents need a place to park their cars, some wondered what prioritizing parking over other land uses would mean for the Vancouver character.

It’s madness, Councilor Ty Stober said, to think of parking as anything other than one of many tools to increase access.

“That’s about it, do I have access to get there?” Parking is one-way,” Stober said.

“I think we’re at a transition point here in the transport system preferences.”

Eiken agreed that the city is at a crossroads. But ultimately people have to get where they’re going, he added.

“We want the parking system to support a livable downtown, an active downtown that is also sustainable. We know that improvements need to be made to mobility and public transit to provide options for people,” Eiken said. “Right now, if you were to ask people how they get to work if they’re not driving, many would struggle to get from their neighborhood to downtown.

Parking spaces

Too many parking spaces in the city center, still thousands more to add

by Deena S. Hawkins on June 27, 2019

Downtown Memphis is for drivers only, at least for now.

That’s according to the findings of a one-year parking study commissioned by the Downtown Memphis Commission, said Iain Banks of Nelson Nygaard, the California company that conducted the study.

“There is definitely an automotive culture in downtown Memphis,” Banks said in a 90-minute presentation to the DMC board of directors on Thursday morning. “And that’s partly due, obviously, to historical preferences, but also to the fact that the transit system and global mobility is probably not quite where the city would really like it to be right now. “

The study looked at parking between AW Willis Avenue and EH Crump Boulevard and from the riverside at Interstate 69 on the outskirts of the Medical District.

About 83% of downtown workers who responded to a parking survey said they walk to work alone every day, while only 7% said they carpooled. Among downtown residents, the number was only slightly lower. About 69% reported driving alone in the city center.

For these drivers, parking can often seem scarce and expensive, according to the study. But that’s just the perception, Banks said.

In fact, drivers said they can usually find a location after searching for about five minutes and said that location is usually within two blocks of their destination.

Choose 901 employee Taylor Lewis grabs a parking receipt on the way to work in May 2014.

20,000 additional places

There are 71,364 parking spaces in downtown Memphis and the Medical District, according to the Banks study.

Despite perceptions of low parking inventory, banks have found that approximately 50,000 of these spaces are needed to meet parking demand. And even if Memphis’s development continued to grow along with cities like Nashville and Austin, 20 years from now, Memphis would still be able to meet demand with about 5,000 spaces less than there are today.

In the heart of downtown, the excess of available parking spaces over parking demand is most apparent. There are 17,065 parking spaces available downtown, but the immediate growth that is happening downtown only calls for about 8,600 spaces, according to the study.

Despite the excess parking, the members of the board of directors of DMC were reluctant to accept the disappearance of the spaces.

“How do you know how many people are coming downtown for business meetings, how many people are coming downtown to meet someone for lunch, and then have to go back east because that’s where do they live or work? Asked Julie Ellis, DMC board member.

There are 17,065 parking spaces available downtown, but the immediate growth happening downtown only calls for about 8,600 spaces, according to a study.

She said it made sense to try to reduce the need for parking for downtown residents who also work there by making the city more pedestrian-friendly and improving public transportation. But she said reducing parking too much could alienate East Memphis residents.

“What I never want to hear is that being downtown is exclusive to anyone who doesn’t live or work downtown,” Ellis said. “It’s not Memphis. That worries me in a larger context.”

Banks, however, said the change could take years – but even if just 10% of inner-city residents decided to use their cars less frequently, that would mean less space would be needed and more. much of what is available could be used by the people of East Memphis and others. travel to the city center.

Less surfaces, more technology

DMC’s sister councils have already committed to adding thousands of additional parking spaces despite the density of the downtown area.

Part of Union Row’s approved $ 950 million development incentive program that plans to bring apartments, a hotel, offices and more retail – including a grocery store – downtown was a $ 50 million loan to build two parking garages that would add approximately 2,000 spaces.

City officials are in talks to add more parking garages downtown.

Banks said adding more garages isn’t necessarily a bad thing if it means closing surface lots and using prime downtown real estate for more development.

“Maybe a garage makes sense in some places where it opens up three to four to five development blocks and it can serve as a shared parking use for those developments,” he said.

DMC President Jennifer Oswalt said the parking study is already being used to help her organization determine how to allocate limited parking funds to other developments.

“What this has done for us is to show that immediate growth is not a crisis,” Oswalt said. “It has shown that we are not completely immune to challenges, but neither are we in crisis… We can try to change small behaviors.”

These efforts to change behavior are manifested in another type of incentive approved in late 2018 to encourage alternative commuting for the 700 new employees that agricultural technology company Indigo Ag plans to hire over the next three years.

The DMC is also committed to providing parking solutions for AutoZone, which recently announced a Expansion of the city center this will lead to 130 new jobs. No details have been released on what the DMC will offer and how it will impact the existing parking landscape.

An expansion of AutoZone is expected to create 130 well-paying jobs in downtown Memphis.

Preliminary results published with the study suggest that the technology could be a solution to negative perceptions of parking. Banks said using apps or other technology to help downtown visitors determine the location and cost of parking before leaving their homes could be helpful.

He also suggested that improving public transportation, better maintenance of parking garages, working with businesses to make more private parking accessible to the public, and making the city center more pedestrian-friendly could all help. change the habits of those who visit the city center and reduce the need for parking.

A final list of recommendations and a guide to help the DMC make parking development decisions will be released in the coming weeks, Banks said.

Desiree Stennett covers economic development and business at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at [email protected], 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.

Parking spaces

Millions of parking spaces could be left empty in the transportation revolution

by Deena S. Hawkins on May 31, 2019

If the future of personal transportation lies with scooters and self-driving cars which are more often than not on the move, this will leave many empty parking spaces open for new uses, such as redevelopment, food delivery centers or shopping centers. vehicle recharging.

Why is this important: The disruption of urban transport creates opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs who see the value of reallocating modest parking space in the digital age.

A number of companies are already reinventing the way parking space could be used …

1. ParkJockey: The Florida-based company’s ambition is to sell access to space to businesses such as ridesharing, car rentals, and food delivery.

To do this, it wants to sell an “operating system” (hardware and software) to garage owners who will turn their real estate into a service that customers can access by paying.
At the end of last year, ParkJockey acquired 2 large parking operators as part of a financing round led by SoftBank.

2. City storage systems: Better known as the new venture of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, the company is also dealing with parking lot reallocation.

It is bought properties, including parking garages, that it will turn into commercial kitchens for delivery-only restaurants and other consumer services.

3. SpotHero: The company is focusing on a parking space reservation app (for human drivers), but it’s already thinking about the arrival of robot drivers.

He’s worked with many partners to upgrade some of their technologies to handle autonomous vehicles, which CEO Mark Lawrence says can have immediate benefits for human drivers as well..
“Every location we do [AV]“Ready today is a better experience for our consumers now,” says Lawrence. “We’ve done studies that show people are willing to pay more for one automated experience than another. “

During this time, some real estate developers are also considering a future without as much parking space.

AvalonBay Communities, which is working on a future residential complex in Los Angeles, has designed a large parking lot that they plan to convert for recreational use as a gym and theater, and even retail and dining spaces.
The owner of The Grove and other high-end malls is working with Google to potentially convert to more restaurants and stores, according to the LA Times.

Yes, but: Developers already have some tough decisions to make when it comes to their investments, which typically have a 30-year horizon as they juggle short and long term uses.

Construction costs for surface parking structures can cost $ 21,000 per space, and an additional $ 500 per year to maintain each space. During this time, Parking Fee an average of $ 2 an hour in the US, but can reach $ 33 for 2 hours of parking in New York.
And converting garages is expensive: in Pittsburgh, it costs $ 17 million to convert a 3-storey garage into more than 60 apartment units.

The bottom line: These companies may have to make big investments years before they know if they made the right bet.

Go further:

Parking spaces

Des Moines has 83,000 households and 1.6 million parking spaces

by Deena S. Hawkins on July 13, 2018

Des Moines has seven times more parking spaces than people, according to a new study from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Research Institute for Housing America arm of the association reviewed parking inventories in Des Moines, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Jackson, Wyoming. He found a “large amount of parking”.

Des Moines has 1.6 million parking spaces, according to the study. This represents around seven parking spaces for each of the city’s 217,521 residents in 2017.

The report argues that cities have made “monumental investments in parking”. And he says the results come at a time when people are driving less and parking demand is declining.

Cars drive past a parking lot on Third Avenue in downtown Des Moines on Friday, July 13, 2018. According to a recent study, Des Moines has a large number of parking spaces.

In Des Moines, city leaders recognize that driving and parking behaviors are changing. In response, the city has exempted many projects from its minimum parking requirements on new developments. And a new change in the city’s zoning code further relaxes parking rules.

Following:

“My conclusion is quite basic: the investment in parking really exceeds the current parking demand, which is really interesting,” said Eric Scharnhorst, author of the report. “Because future demand will likely continue to decline. “

The study valued the parking infrastructure in Des Moines at $ 6.42 billion. He counted the total number of spaces in surface lots, residential driveways, on-street parking and private parking garages within the city limits of Des Moines.

Scharnhorst, start-up manager Parkingmill, says an oversupply of parking spaces means city leaders have the opportunity to rethink the uses of many dedicated parking lots, which are often found in desirable areas of the city.

“It’s just a really big opportunity in Des Moines. The occupancy rates are pretty low. But the inventory is really high,” he said. “Often the parking spaces are in very convenient places because you want to get to where you want to go. “

“We must take a step back as a city”

Scharnhorst’s study used a mix of high-resolution satellite images as well as data from property tax assessors, city departments and large institutions.

The study found that 83 percent of Des Moines parking spaces are in off-street parking lots and driveways; 10 percent are on the streets; and 7 percent are housed in structured off-street parking.

Of the five cities examined, Des Moines had one of the highest household-to-parking space ratios, with 19.4 spaces for each household in the city. Jackson had the largest with 27.1 places for each household and New York had the lowest ratio with 0.6 places for each household.

Philadelphia was houses 2.1 million parking spaces – 500,000 more than the 1.6 million stalls in Des Moines. With around 1.5 million residents, the city of Philadelphia is nearly seven times the size of Des Moines.

Larry James Jr., a real estate attorney in Des Moines who works with developers, said the numbers indicate a need to rethink the city’s approach to parking.

“We need to take a step back as a city,” said James.

He knows people are still complaining about parking, having trouble finding a spot on Court Avenue, or having to park three blocks from their East Village destination.

But it’s all relative: “The reality is that when you go to Jordan Creek Mall, you don’t think about walking three or four blocks when you go to the movies because you can see the front door,” he said. he declared.

James advocates letting the local market determine how much parking is required, rather than establishing “arbitrary” bylaws that impose minimum spaces in new developments.

He wants Des Moines to join the ranks of cities that waive parking requirements absolutely.

This is what the City has done in the city center where no minimum parking requirement applies. Yet, new projects are always offered with parking structures due to market demand, he said.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t need parking. We need it,” he said. “But let businesses figure out what they need.”

“The market will always dictate that there is parking”

Des Moines is working on building an urban infrastructure that is more cyclable and more pedestrianized. But cars are still king in the capital of Iowa.

“Hopefully there will be less demand and need to drive or park,” said Michael Ludwig, planning administrator for Des Moines. “But these are big ticket items. There is a lot of sidewalk space. There are a lot of streets that don’t have bike lanes. And in the meantime, people will still have to drive.”

But the city has already taken a new approach to parking.

Ludwig said developments are routinely exempt from minimum parking standards. This includes the new Soll apartment complex on Ingersoll Street.

And a new suite of zoning code changes propose to permanently reduce parking regulations.

Current code requires most new multi-family developments to include 1.5 parking spaces for each residential unit. The proposed new zoning code would reduce the requirements to one space per unit, Ludwig said.

Too much parking has real implications: it can drive up development costs (and therefore rental prices). And that can affect the stormwater drainage rate, Ludwig said.

“We think our current standards are too high, so we are proposing adjustments,” he said. “Whether or not there is political support from the community so that there is no minimum everywhere, I don’t know. “

That’s because many small businesses along commercial corridors are surrounded by dense residential neighborhoods, creating real parking and traffic problems, Ludwig said.

Whatever the city does, Ludwig doesn’t expect developers to abandon parking lots and garages anytime soon. Many grocery stores and big box retailers are already above the city minimum, he said.

“Just because you don’t have a minimum parking ratio doesn’t mean there won’t be parking,” he said. “The market is always going to dictate that there are parking lots. And they are always going to build parking lots.”

Parking spaces

New York City Reserves Nearly 300 Parking Spaces for Car-Sharing Services

by Deena S. Hawkins on May 31, 2018

As if finding a parking space in New York wasn’t difficult enough, the city is taking 285 spaces away and reserving them for car-sharing services like Zipcar. The move is already infuriating New Yorkers, reports The New York Times.

This will be the first time that car-sharing services will be reserved parking spaces in the streets of the city, according to the newspaper. Currently, some companies keep cars in parking garages, but others allow users to leave cars parked on the street in designated areas. City officials say Reserving on-street parking for carpooling will encourage more people to use the services, reducing reliance on private cars and reducing traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.

But New York City already has relatively low car ownership rates. Just under half of adults own a car, according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation. This is well below the national average of 92%, note The New York Times. City officials say greater car-sharing availability is still needed to serve neighborhoods with limited transit infrastructure.

The 285 parking spaces are located primarily in low- and modest-income neighborhoods, according to The New York Times. The neighborhoods were chosen because they are currently poorly served by car-sharing services and have relatively few car parks. Of the designated car-sharing spaces, approximately 230 will be on streets and 55 on municipal land. Signs designating spaces reserved for Zipcar and Enterprise CarShare have already been put up and companies have been allowed to tow private vehicles.

Use of car-sharing services is on the rise, with about 1.4 million U.S. users in 2017, according to The New York Times. But in New York, parking spaces are as valuable as any other type of real estate. The city has already removed spaces in many neighborhoods for bike lanes and docks for the CitiBike bike-sharing program. But he didn’t give up on strict enforcement of parking rules, and there wasn’t exactly a surplus of street parking to begin with. Some drivers would also resent the city giving away public land for the exclusive use of private companies.

It’s unclear whether more carpooling will reduce traffic, but that may depend on how the services are used. A 2010 study of round-trip use found that one shared car could eliminate nine to 13 private cars. But Susan Shaheen, an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center, said The New York Times that his research has shown that one-way car sharing does not significantly reduce traffic.

In New York, Zipcar and General Motors’ Maven service require users to return cars to designated parking lots or garages after a trip. Daimler’s Car2Go only requires users to leave cars in a designated “welcome area”, not a specific location. It was also BMW’s ReachNow policy, but the service withdraws from New York starting June 5.

New York has an extensive public transportation system, but that system, especially the subway, is widely criticized due to lack of maintenance and unreliable service. It remains to be seen whether the removal of parking spaces and the neglect of public transportation will really convince New Yorkers to take up carpooling.

Uncategorized

Waterproofing concrete parking structures: a comparison

by Deena S. Hawkins on May 28, 2018

All images courtesy of RJC Engineers

By James Cooper, P.Eng., LEED AP O + M
Owners, engineers and contractors involved in the design, operation, maintenance and restoration of parking garages and building podium decks should understand the role and importance of waterproofing systems in protecting these facilities. When there is a lack of attention to these systems, repair and maintenance costs increase and the expected life suffers.

By effectively protecting the structure and keeping waterproofing systems in good repair, homeowners can slow the rate of deterioration and allow safe and uninterrupted use of the building for an extended period of time. The protection of the structure also ensures the stability of the value of the asset by limiting deterioration and closures, and reduces long-term investment costs. On the other hand, the failure of waterproofing systems often leads to economic losses, including damage to vehicles of building occupants, costly structural repair costs, and lost opportunities during repair work due to the failure. closure of parking lots. A functional waterproofing system is therefore the first line of defense for any structure subjected to vehicle use and de-icing salts.

Understand your needs
Deciding to protect a structure with a waterproofing system is a simple and necessary step. However, determining the specific waterproofing requirements to meet the long-term needs of the structure is more difficult. It is important to understand the critical elements to look for in an effective waterproofing system.

Prevent leaks
The obvious purpose of a waterproofing system is to prevent the flow of water and dissolved salts into and through the structure onto vehicles or into the occupied space below. Careful attention and effective detailing at termination points, drains, pipe penetrations, cracks and joints is required.

*An example of deterioration of a thick waterproofing system on a flat roof.*

Prevent chloride (salt) from entering cracks
Almost all parking garage surfaces are concrete. With very few exceptions, concrete does one thing very well: cracking. An effective waterproofing system must therefore fill cracks, which will open and close due to temperature changes and cyclic loads over the life of the structure. If the system cannot continue to fill cracks, it becomes an easy way for moisture and chlorides to bypass a surface applied waterproofing system.

Provide a non-slip surface
Slip resistance is important for vehicles and pedestrians as they pass through a structure. The health and safety of users is negatively affected if a waterproofing system becomes slippery, when wet, or over time. Therefore, both initial and long term slip resistance mechanisms are required.

Provide a durable wear surface
A poorly designed sealing system can wear out with use or deteriorate due to specific environmental factors. Accelerated wear and deterioration can have a significant impact on performance and life. A waterproofing system must withstand the aggressive environment in which it operates, maintain adequate functionality and meet the required service life. Worn waterproofing can quickly lose its slip resistance, and deteriorated installations cannot effectively prevent moisture and chloride from entering the structure. Critical areas with increased vehicle load (for example loading docks, truck traffic areas and traffic aisles) often require more rugged designs to meet similar lifespans to other areas.

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Parking spaces

Mineola will add 900 parking spaces in two downtown garages

by Deena S. Hawkins on May 4, 2018

Mineola officials said Friday the village will house a pair of parking lots that will add at least 900 more spaces to a town center that has long lacked many parking options.

Mayor Scott Strauss said the parking garages were part of an agreement the village had with state officials and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In January 2016, the village met with officials from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s office about the Long Island Rail Road’s upcoming third track project. During those discussions, village officials negotiated getting more parking spaces for its town center, Strauss said.

A 550-space garage will be at First Street and Third Avenue, Strauss said, and construction will begin around September. A schedule for the other garage has not been decided, but it will be on Second Street between Willis Avenue and Main Street and will have between 350 and 450 spaces, Strauss said.

Finding a downtown parking spot has long been a struggle for Mineola residents, in part because existing parking lots have to accommodate NYU Winthrop hospital employees and patients, commuters boarding trains at the station LIRR nearby, guests visiting downtown restaurants and apartment complex residents. Strauss said it’s easier to find a space downtown in the morning.

“It’s going to be a huge boost for our downtown,” he said. “There will be parking for everyone who comes, whether it’s shopping in the stores or visiting a loved one in hospital.”

The parking garages are part of Mineola’s larger plan to provide more spaces throughout downtown. In a study published in 2016, Old-Bethpage-based Level G Associates told village officials that the town center “experiences by far the highest imbalance between parking supply and demand in the village”. Tier G recommended several fixes for the area, including building a garage at First Street and Third Avenue.

Great Neck Mayor Jean Celender, who is also vice president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association, said parking lots can be a double-edged sword for villages because they alleviate parking problems, but they are also expensive to maintain. Celender noted that his village had a parking lot in 2000 that was leaking and started to collapse.

“So the word to Mineola is, it’s great to have a garage, but make sure it’s sealed with a special membrane and don’t put anything on that membrane,” Celender said.

Strauss said he was glad the MTA would build the First Street garage and actually wanted some unfilled spaces there.

“I hope the first three levels are empty because that means I have plenty of parking for anyone who wants to come to Mineola,” he said.

Khristopher J. Brooks is a Detroit native turned New Yorker who has been covering the town of North Hempstead since January 2017.

Parking garage

Automated parking garage opens in Oakland, California

by Deena S. Hawkins on February 27, 2018

Dive brief:

The Hive Parking Structure, a fully automated parking lot, opened Monday in Oakland, California. Built on an area of 1,600 square feet, the structure is 55 feet high and can accommodate 39 cars.
Drivers arrive at the garage and park in a reception area before pressing a button to indicate that everyone is out of the car. The garage then takes the unoccupied vehicle on a series of automatic transporters in the structure to find a place. To collect the car, drivers have to scan their ticket at an electronic machine, then wait for it to be returned to them automatically.
Oakland-based CityLift Parking and developer Signature Development Group teamed up for the garage, which officials said used 69% less building materials per parking space than regular garages. In a statement, Signature Development Group president Mike Ghielmetti said the garage was “cost effective and environmentally friendly.”

Dive overview:

While this may be the first fully automated parking lot in Northern California, it’s not the first in the country or the world, although this latest opening represents the latest expansion in technology.

Already, similar structures exist in parts of New Jersey and in West Hollywood, California, where the city has saved more than a million dollars by installing a free-standing garage that can hold up to three times as many cars as a regular garage, according to Wired.

In an interview with Wired, Unitronics CEO Yair Goldberg, whose company installed the West Hollywood garage, said the structure reduces noise and emissions because car engines don’t run, and the fact that people don’t need to get in and out of cars in tight spaces meaning they can pack more vehicles. “What it does, it takes out all the turning radius, all the ramps, all the clearances for people to be able to walk in here or open their doors,” Goldberg said.

Building automated parking garages saves both space and money, as they are often cheaper to build and can hold two or three times as many cars as regular garages. In a statement, CityLift Parking CEO Scott Gable said the lack of land available for such structures means businesses need to think differently. “As land in the US urban core becomes scarce, automated parking solutions are the most cost-effective and efficient way for developers and public agencies to meet parking requirements in increasingly smaller footprints.” , did he declare.

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Parking spaces

Ann Arbor faces potential loss of hundreds of public parking spaces

by Deena S. Hawkins on November 14, 2017

ANN ARBOR, MI — While plans are underway to add 375 more public parking spaces to downtown Ann Arbor by winter 2019, hundreds more could disappear.

The Downtown Development Authority’s leases for two parking lots in First/Huron and Fifth/Huron end Nov. 30, meaning a loss of 222 spaces from the public parking system starting Dec. 1.

There is still a chance that they may function as short-term private car parks. The city is in discussions with the owner about this, but it is expected that they will eventually be redeveloped.

Additionally, there is talk of closing two city-owned public parking lots at 415 W. Washington and First/William as the city moves forward with its new Treeline urban pathways plan. These lots have long been envisioned as anchor parks along the future trail, although there may also be private development.

The transformation of these two lots could remove an additional 261 spaces from the public parking system, although when this might happen is uncertain at this time. The city is in the process of finalizing the Treeline plan and the implementation phase is next.

City Council and the Downtown Development Authority held a joint meeting Monday evening, Nov. 13, to discuss parking issues, including the planned loss of those 483 public parking spaces.

City leaders are in talks with the owner of the two lots along Huron, Ann Arbor-based developer First Martin Corp., and are considering allowing the company to temporarily operate them as a private parking lot open to the public until the properties are redeveloped. But there are zoning compliance considerations still under consideration.

The DDA has leased the First/Huron and Fifth/Huron lots from First Martin for years, using them as public parking.

DDA executive director Susan Pollay said First Martin was not offering the option of renewing leases now. She said she understood First Martin wanted to redevelop the properties, although she did not know of any specific development plans.

“Not renewing leases is a way to make redevelopment of these lots more possible,” Pollay said, praising First Martin as a developer. “They’re good developers and good community members. So if that’s what it takes to get them redeveloped, that’s a win for everyone.”

Company representatives could not be reached for comment for this story.

The Fifth and Huron lot across from City Hall has been marketed as available real estate for years while being used as a parking lot.

The lot at First and Huron runs the full length of the block from Huron to Washington and from First to Ashley. It is known as Brown Block and is a popular parking spot for downtown visitors, including patrons of Downtown Home and Garden and Main Street restaurants and shops. The lot is often full at peak times.

Pollay said the loss of the Brown Block as a public parking lot from December 1, which is Midnight Madness, the start of the downtown holiday shopping season, would be a bad time, but there are discussions between the city and First Martin on the possibility of allowing the company to operate the lot as a private parking lot at this time. Pollay noted that the use of the Brown Block as a parking lot predates zoning.

City Administrator Howard Lazarus confirmed the city is talking to First Martin about zoning compliance issues.

“And we hope to work together with them,” he said. ‘We do not intend to close these grounds while they work towards full compliance, as the availability of parking – while not a public good – serves a public benefit.

Lazarus said he believes a solution can be found administratively, but he is asking the city attorney to review the case to determine if action by city council is necessary.

“As long as there are good faith efforts to keep moving forward, it is in the public interest to keep these spaces available,” he said.

Councilman Chuck Warpehoski, D-5th Ward, expressed some concern over First Martin’s permission to operate a private parking lot downtown, noting that the city would not allow developer Dennis Dahlmann to do so on the lot Y, even in the short term.

“I think there’s a reason why our D1 zoning doesn’t list parking as an approved primary use,” he said. “So I think if it’s a transition while other things are going on, I guess I can deal with it. The board and the DDA have taken a pretty strong stance on that when we looked at Lot Y. I think we should be consistent regardless of ownership I don’t think we should be playing favorites with that.

Warpehoski said not having private parking in competition with the city’s public parking lot is another consideration.

“And I think we should be consistent with our zoning to make sure we don’t let a primary use that we don’t want take up a lot of our streetscape,” he added.

The DDA said total parking revenue from the two First Martin lots in the prior fiscal year was $536,303, net of rent and taxes. Since the DDA shares 20% with the city, the loss of these lots equates to a loss of $107,260 per year for the city at current rates.

Additionally, the two city-owned lots at 415 W. Washington and First/William generated $367,625. The loss of these would equate to a reduction of $73,525 in city revenue per year at current rates.

Assuming current parking rates, the 375 new spaces expected to be added to the Ann/Ashley Garage could generate nearly $1 million per year in new revenue, including nearly $200,000 per year in new revenue for the city. , according to the DDA. It is estimated that it will cost approximately $18 million to add the three floors.

Council member Jane Lumm, an independent from the 2nd Arrondissement, said she was concerned the public parking system could lose a network of more than 100 spaces given the level of parking demand.

She also noted that the city and DDA agreed to allow a Chicago-based developer to lease 361 public parking spaces in the Library Lane and Fourth and William garages to support a 17-story development on the library lot owned by the city on Fifth Avenue.

Lumm said she thought it would be wise to consider other parking capacity measures beyond the Ann/Ashley addition.

Other options being considered by the DDA include a four-story, 370-space vertical addition above the Liberty Square garage and a 747-space garage on the Kline lot at Ashley and William Streets with a mix of underground and parking garages. area.

Pollay said the DDA is also asking its engineers to explore the possibility of adding more than 375 spaces to Ann/Ashley

$7 Million Renovation Planned for Area Around Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market Streets in Downtown Ann Arbor Benefit from Major Improvements Over 9 Years

Council member Kirk Westphal, D-2nd Ward, said he was worried about knee-jerk turning to increasing parking capacity. He suggested the city is undervaluing downtown parking and wondered if rate changes could meet parking demand.

City and DDA leaders acknowledge there is no certainty about how much parking will be needed in the future as the way people get around changes and self-driving cars come online .

Lazarus said he thinks it’s critical the city at least moves forward with adding Ann/Ashley now.

Pollay said the DDA is considering raising downtown parking rates, which could help fund the Ann/Ashley addition.

She announced potential rate changes for spring 2018, raising monthly permit costs by $10 to $35 per month, while on-street parking rates would increase by 10 cents per hour. Hourly parking rates would remain unchanged.

The DDA tentatively plans to hold a public hearing on the rate changes in January 2018, followed by board approval in February and implementation of the new rates in April.

Monday night’s meeting presentation also covered potential economic development opportunities, one being to allow private development on city-owned land at 415 W. Washington, a degraded property across from the YMCA, and to use tax raised fundraising revenue to help fund the Treeline Urban Trail.

Parking garage

What is driving the future of parking garage design?

by Deena S. Hawkins on June 29, 2017

The effort put into designing a parking lot will likely never be recognized in the same way as the work done to bring a sparkling skyscraper out of the ground. However, the structures that are present in most American cities serve a vital and practical need.

But basic parking is not so basic anymore, not least because municipalities and people who live near high traffic and congested areas insist that developers consider their projects in a way that encourages the use of public transport. or to camouflage them. so that they blend in as harmoniously as possible with the aesthetics of associated buildings and public gathering places.

Change is already underway

For example, Seattle has chosen to move development away from parking structures that overlook streets and sidewalks as well as office buildings, residential skyscrapers and hotels, according to Phil Greany, construction manager in Mortenson’s office. in Seattle.

Seattle is in the midst of a tech company-induced construction boom, and, according to Greany, these workers often want to live, work, and play in the same neighborhood, so cars and parking are a secondary concern. Amazon employees, for example, who live near company headquarters can walk to and from work instead of driving.

The city also heightened urban and pedestrian sensibility by encouraging developers to design with pedestrian access in mind and include features such as “parklets” where on-street parking would normally be located. Seattle encourages underground parking where possible, as well as a design that “camouflages” parking garages so they can blend in with the greenery that lines many streets, according to Greany.

On a related note, Al Carroll, executive vice president of the Southern California division of the McCarthy Building Companies, said he’s seeing increased use of parking “envelopes” for mid-rise multi-family residential buildings. . “The residential building wraps around the structure of the parking lot, hiding its exterior from view,” he said.

Carroll noted, however, that because the story-to-story height of each garage level should generally match the relatively lower story-to-story height of a typical multi-family building, the design is sometimes not as efficient as a detached house. common parking garage next to an office building or other commercial project.

However, some new trends in parking garage design – even mandates – are easier to implement than others.

Paul Commito, senior vice president of development at Brandywine Realty Trust, said city planners in Philadelphia, where the company built the city’s first raised park over a university area parking lot, prefer parking in basement.

The city wants its citizens to be less “dependent on parking” and requires developers of new parking structures to go through a special review process if they want to build a traditional aboveground facility, according to Commito.

“The only problem is that the urban environment makes the cost of using the basement with parking almost prohibitive,” he said.

Most owners, Carroll said, will try to keep the parking structure above grade when zoning and site conditions allow. “While integrating the underground parking into a mixed-use park above the [or] The installation of offices results in a much smaller building footprint requiring less land use, significantly increasing the cost of the underground parking component, which is already very expensive compared to above ground structures ” , did he declare.

According to Scott Desharnais, executive vice president of Moss Construction Management, soil type is another factor to consider when going underground with a parking lot. “With the new soil mixing technology, it has become more economically feasible to put underground parking. This has been especially important in dense areas where land is scarce,” he said.

Despite this, Desharnais said the deepest parking structures the company has seen are just two underground levels. “We could see basements lower in the future as soil mixing technology becomes more mainstream,” he said. “For now, on most large buildings that require a lot of parking, we will still normally see several stories above ground.”

Where sustainability comes into play

So how do you make these above ground concrete parking lots more durable and slightly easier to accept for forward thinking planners? Simply put, the developers are making them eco-friendly with things like electric car charging stations, green spaces, and solar power.

Commito said that due to the availability of a wide variety of transportation options in Philadelphia, the company’s Cira Center project, a mixed-use, transit-focused commercial project along the Schuylkill River, was able to transform the top of the complex’s parking lot into a park, as well as a stormwater management system and a green roof. The park opened about a year and a half ago and has “been shown to be well received,” Commito said.

Solar energy and electric charging stations go hand in hand in some of the car parks of the property development company DANAC. CJ Colavito, director of engineering for Standard Solar – which installed the solar panels on one of DANAC’s parking structures and parking lot – said solar is financially profitable for building owners, it doesn’t So it acts not so much in trying to make a parking garage look like better, but in economic sense.

Charging stations for electric cars, however, are another matter. “It’s a chicken and egg situation,” Colavito said. Employers may want to install them if they see their employees using them, but employees may not invest in an electric car until their employer installs a charging station in the parking lot. It’s not a money generator like solar power, he said, but rather a benefit to the public and tenants or workers in a building.

Cities and local governments also play a role in this, Colavito said, because green initiatives like solar power, storm water and charging stations sometimes come with large grants that justify their inclusion in a project. financially interesting.

What’s next for the design and construction of parking garages

So, what future for the parking lot?

“The trend we are seeing is that a greater proportion of the population is moving to cities [and] urban areas, ”Carroll said. This will force planners to take into account the increase in population and determine how these additional people will move through an increasingly dense area in the most efficient way possible.

“Public transit and driverless vehicles will certainly lead to some reduction in demand for structured parking,” he added, although driverless vehicle technology is still in the early stages of development.

Generation Y will also influence the demand for parking spaces. This demographic, Carroll said, doesn’t value car ownership as high as older generations, with many seeing it as a waste of time and resources. A significant portion would prefer to use public transportation or ride-sharing services, he said, allowing them to be social while commuting and leave the driving to someone else.

Some owners, he said, have anticipated the abandonment of parking garages and are considering designing parking structures with floor-to-floor heights and other design elements that will allow them to transform multi-family buildings, retail stores, offices and other types of mixed-use facilities – in case the demand for parking begins to drop.

Desharnais said his company has also seen the trend to reduce the number of stand-alone garages in favor of those that are integrated into a specific project. And with the help of car lifts, which allow two or three cars to be stacked in one space, the footprint of garages is also shrinking.

However, the most impacting change for the future of parking structures, Desharnais said, will come from cities and local governments. “Most municipalities still require a certain number of parking spaces for each residential unit,” he said. “In the future, if they relaxed this requirement, it could stimulate urban development and discourage people from driving.”

Parking spaces

Does it seem like more and more drivers are backing up in parking spaces?

by Deena S. Hawkins on January 25, 2017

How often do you back up in a parking space, instead of parking forward?

I ask because I guess you do it more than before. This is my totally unscientific observation – but not totally unwarranted.

I base this conclusion on an underground garage near my office that I park a few days a week. Every time I descend into her bowels I notice that almost all vehicle has retreated into its space.

It looks so neat and tidy. I’m sure the parking lots weren’t like that. Two parking experts agreed, stressing that their observations were strictly anecdotal.

Gary cudney is president of Carl Walker Inc., a parking lot design company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Marie smith is senior vice president of Walker Parking in Indianapolis. (Are all the parking consulting companies called Walker? These two were founded by the same guy, who sold the first and then opened the second.)

Mary said research from the 1980s suggested Americans were half as likely to return to a space as Britons. She thinks it’s because American drivers haven’t learned to back up, while motorists in other countries have.

What we call a parking space, parked engineers call a stall. A well-designed parking garage allows people to enter and exit stalls safely and quickly. Reversing a car – entering or exiting – takes longer. More people seem to be doing this when they arrive rather than when they leave. Why? We launched a few ideas:

It’s easier. Nowadays, reversing cameras and collision avoidance systems are part of the standard equipment of more and more vehicles. While a camera won’t make you a better driver, it can help you with the two or three point turns needed to get back into a stall.

Because of the SUVs. “Backing up into a stall means you can back out, which is a lot safer,” Mary said. “It’s so much harder to see pulling back when you’re parked near SUVs. »More SUVs means more drivers wanting to position themselves for maximum visibility.

We are finally authorized to do so. Gary said he designed parking garages where motorists were told they couldn’t back up. Garage owners often need parking in the front if a monthly parking voucher is displayed on the rear windshield. Some garages have changed their payment methods.

Sometimes, Gary said, garages ban rear parking because a car’s rear overhang – from the rear wheel to the rear bumper – is typically longer than the overhang at the rear. before. If you back up and use a curb to “feel” the space, your rear bumper may hit a wall.

We protect our stuff. Mary said some people told her they came in so that their safe was against the wall, making it difficult for a thief to open it.

We know we will be tired at the end of the day. In the morning, we are relatively cool, able to muster our brain power and coordination. At night all we want to do is go our separate ways. We plan accordingly.

Gary said there might be something to this theory. People arrive at different times in the morning, whereas “at the end of the day it’s more like a peak flow. There is peer pressure: “Everyone supports. If I don’t, I’m screwed. “”

But here’s the weird part: I sometimes park on county-owned surface land near the subway in Silver Spring. Not even a third of the cars are parked there in the back. Why the difference?

I think this is because the above ground garages are more spacious and, since they are open on the sides, less claustrophobic. Going back is not that difficult.

Obviously, more study is needed.

Cold comfort

Good news for custard lovers: the dairy godmother will be back. Liz davis, founder of the 17-year-old custard store in Alexandria’s Del Ray neighborhood, tells me that so many people have expressed interest in taking over her business that she is “certain it can reopen in March.”

[The fairy tale is over at Alexandria’s Dairy Godmother frozen custard shop]

Liz said she heard from many interested parties, some with “Wisconsin pedigree” as well as “government workers trying to reinvent themselves.”

Well there is a federal hiring freeze. Maybe these people prefer to work in a place where something else is frozen.

Bye

I take a week to work on important projects (squirrel week is coming in April, don’t forget that). Watch for me back in this space on February 6th.

Twitter: @johnkelly

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.

Uncategorized

Downtown Long Beach parking structures are safer and cleaner, city report says • Long Beach Post News

by Deena S. Hawkins on October 21, 2015

After a city council request in August to continue work to improve the parking situation in the city center, an update on renovations and improvements to parking facilities showed a cleaner and safer system, as the city has increased its efforts in terms of personnel, security and maintenance.

Director of Public Works Ara Maloyan has revealed updates to downtown parking structures in recent months, including Lots A, B and C, which immediately surround the City Place shopping center. Security was extended to 24 hours a day, seven days a week instead of the previous model from Monday to Friday which only covered working hours.

Additionally, new signage, updated payment kiosks, and landscaping helped improve the exterior aesthetics of the structures, while increased staffing and cleaning schedules helped keep the interior clean.

The old pressure washing program provided for a quarterly cleaning, but has since been increased to once a month.

“This increased cleaning program is in line with the cleaning practices of the aquarium parking structure also managed by Central Parking,” said Maloyan.

Maloyan added that Central Parking, the city’s downtown lot management company, has added a “parking ambassador” to help with the customer experience, including arranging for escorting customers to their cars. during the evening hours.

“This Ambassador adds another pair of eyes and ears to the garage and looks after customers throughout the day,” said Maloyan. “The Ambassador assists customers with any issues they may have with the garage and is in frequent contact with Security at Platt, who patrols the garages.

The updates and improvements were initiated by a request for an initial study by council members in November 2014. First District Councilor Lena Gonzalez was joined by co-author Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal , to request the study and subsequent follow-up, delivered Tuesday evening.

Gonzalez applauded efforts to improve the downtown parking experience, including the recent incorporation of the city’s website to include information on lot locations, parking rates, and access to purchase. monthly permits. She said the city should always focus on marketing and making it known that downtown parking does exist.

“As a First city councilor and working in the neighborhood for six years, people will say ‘there is no parking in the city center’,” Gonzalez said. “I keep telling them that there is parking in the city center, you just have to pay for it in some cases.”

Funding for the improvements comes from a variety of sources, including excess meter revenue from newly installed smart meters downtown. City Council voted in December 2014 to allocate any excess meter revenue for the first two years to capital improvement projects for downtown parking improvements. So far, these revenues have provided approximately $ 70,000 in funds to pay for improvements, half of which would have been spent to pay for improvements already made.

It is estimated that the revenue generated by the parking garages themselves will offset the increased security and maintenance costs, but future capital investments may require the city council to allocate further funds to help finance them. Future lot improvements, including the inclusion of LED lighting, cameras, surface repairs and additional paint, are expected to cost over $ 500,000 per parking structure.

The city has partnered with key facility users like Molina Heathcare and others like Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA) to assess future needs in the improvement process. DLBA President and CEO Kraig Kojian said that over the past decade the dynamics of the parking situation have grown from just enough space to now ensuring an appropriate experience for the customer. Like Gonzalez, Kojian said the completed work is a good start, but more can be done to improve parking downtown.

“Vice Mayor, you might remember we moved this conversation to downtown parking from a lack of inventory 10 years ago, to now it’s more about the customer experience. ”Said Kojian. “It’s about marketing the asset that we have, it’s the first and last experience a customer can have when entering our downtown area. And for us, it is very, very important.

Parking spaces

Two Boston parking spaces sold for $ 560,000

by Deena S. Hawkins on June 15, 2013

June 15, 2013 ?? – While recent parking tickets costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Boston and San Francisco shocked readers this week, the volatile price of parking, especially residential parking, reflects the “volatile” world of urban real estate, according to real estate experts. .

The Internal Revenue Service auctioned off two residential parking spaces in Boston on Thursday for $ 560,000, and an 8-by-12-foot parking space in San Francisco’s trendy South Beach neighborhood sold for 82,000. $ the week before, as the San Francisco Chronicle first reported.

“When we look at residential versus commercial parking, the overall trends are similar. But with residential parking, it’s specific to that individual block, and it’s much more variable,” said James Cook, US Director from research to real estate. Colliers International service company. “It’s also more volatile.”

It was obvious Thursday in Boston, when crowds of people gathered in the rain in the upscale Back Bay neighborhood. The IRS auctioned off two parking spaces it had seized from a man with nearly $ 600,000 in back taxes. He bought the spaces for $ 50,000 in 1993, the Boston Globe reported. Auctions started at $ 42,000.

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At first glance, the two parking spots can’t seem to fetch half a million dollars. They are located in what looks like an alley, behind two more parking spaces. But those two parking spots are behind Commonwealth Avenue, where a street spot sold for over $ 300,000 in 2009.

The winner, Lisa Blumenthal, already has three parking spots with her home on Commonwealth Avenue, a few blocks from the finish line of the Boston Marathon. But she told the Boston Globe that more space would allow guests and workers to park.

Blumenthal declined to comment on ABC News.

“It was a little hotter than I expected,” Blumenthal told The Globe.

Unlike Blumenthal’s new property, the Townsend Street parking spot in San Francisco that sold for $ 82,000 is in a gated parking lot attached to a condominium near the AT&T San Francisco Giant baseball stadium.

When Cook saw the headlines about parking prices, he was shocked at first, and then when he found out where the parking spaces were, they “made more sense.”

“It’s a really simple economy – the laws of supply and demand. In the United States, the world of parking, like all real estate, is a tale of two worlds.”

The two worlds Cook, who lives in rural Indiana, refers to are the major urban areas of the country, “then the rest of the United States.”

“There is no shortage of parking spaces in the rest of the nation,” Cook said. “In Indiana, I never pay for parking. It’s all about supply and demand.”

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“The Back Bay neighborhood is super rich, hip, expensive and one of the hardest places to find a parking space in North America,” he said.

Cook said leasing the parking space would provide a potentially stable source of income for the new owner, or that she could always resell the space.

“Either way, she’ll get the value if she sells it. There’s no loss of money for her,” said Cook, who added that wealthy homeowners in the area could most likely afford the places. .

The median home value for Back Bay in Boston, according to the Zillow Home Value Index, is $ 736,300, up 17.8% year-over-year and 2.3% from March to April 2013.

In South Beach in San Francisco, it stands at $ 931,200, up 27.8% year-over-year and 1% month-over-month from March to April.

“These are the coolest, trendiest places to live. The general trend is that leading US urban markets have led the real estate recovery. There has been a real bifurcation,” he said.

Retail real estate sales and rental prices in New York and San Francisco are “astronomical,” Cook said.

“You would think there has never been a recession. In the rest of the United States, there is an ongoing recovery,” he said.

Colliers International published a list of the most expensive central business districts for parking in October. They studied dozens of shopping areas and found that New York, Boston, and San Francisco topped the median rates for unreserved monthly parking spots. In other words, they are non-designated parking spaces such as parking garages without specific and designated locations.

Here is the Necklaces list of the 17 best US cities according to median monthly rates:

1. New York, NY – Midtown: $ 562

2. New York, NY – Downtown $ 533

3. Boston, Massachusetts: $ 405

4. San Francisco, California: $ 375

5. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: $ 313.25

6. Chicago, Illinois: $ 289

7. Seattle, Washington: $ 285

8. Washington, DC $ 270

9. Honolulu, Hawaii: $ 230

10. Los Angeles, California: $ 220.93

11. Oakland, California: $ 195

12. Bellevue, Washington: $ 195

13. Hartford, Connecticut: $ 189.74

14. Portland, Oregon: $ 185

15. Denver, Colorado: $ 180

16. San Diego, California: $ 175

17. Minneapolis, Minnesota: $ 175

Parking spaces

Forrest General adds 1,024 new parking spaces

by Deena S. Hawkins on October 1, 2012

HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) – THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS RELEASE FROM FORREST GENERAL HOSPITAL

Thousands of employees, visitors, patients and family members come and go every day at Forrest General, making parking space a valuable commodity. Starting October 1, Forrest General continues its efforts to create a positive experience for visitors and employees with additional parking including over 1,000 new spaces!

Forrest General offers several parking options for patients and visitors, including ground floor parking lots and parking garages. Signage is placed around the parking lot and Forrest General Public Safety Officers patrol regularly and are available to assist you, if needed.

For patients and visitors:

Adeline parking lot (located on the south side of the hospital along Gordon’s Creek)

Forrest General’s newest parking lot; available to patients, visitors and employees:

1,024 new places on five levels!
18 ADA spaces and 3 spaces accessible to ADA vans on level 1, as well as a few spaces reserved for parking motorcycles.
Four entrances and two two-level connecting bridges between this and the 28th Avenue parking garage.
Level 4 of this garage is reserved for patients and visitors (no staff parking), so that they can access the Pedestrian Walkway.
Three elevators that transport to the 5 levels of the garage.
An open-air pedestrian walkway connects the 4th level of the Adeline parking garage to the third-floor lobby of the main hospital building.
If you are not using the pedestrian bridge, people parking in this garage can use the walkways across Gordon’s Creek to access the sidewalk from the main entrance.

Main entrance parking lot (located off Highway 49)

This bundle is for patients and visitors only and is ideal for visitors who will only be in the hospital for a short time.
ADA spaces reserved for people with disabilities and several spaces reserved for visiting clergy.
Convenient for the cafeteria, gift shop, lobby and for visiting all patient rooms.

28th Avenue parking lot (located in the outpatient registration hall)

Reserved for patients and visitors
Three levels of parking with ADA spaces reserved for people with disabilities on each level.
Convenient level 1 for: outpatient check-in area, medical records and other first floor areas.
Convenient level 2 for: surgery waiting rooms and ICU/CCU on the second floor.
Upper Level: For those visiting or receiving care at The Family Birthplace, which is on the 4th floor of the hospital.
Please note that there is no direct access from the parking garage to the 3rd floor of the hospital.

Central parking lot (adjacent to the 28th Avenue parking garage at the corner of 28th Avenue and Adeline Street)

Open to all employees, visitors and patients.
Accessible from 28th Avenue and Adeline Street.

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