When you own a property – whether a commercial building or multi-family building – you own the whole thing. You own every addition mandated by the local government, including the parking lot.
Traditionally, this has been a sticking point for property owners, many of whom view a parking lot’s expenses as money down the drain. But parking lots do not have to be a dead space for sunk expenses and little return.
In fact, they can be an opportunity for new revenue streams and a stronger community presence. In this article, let’s explore the North American parking lot – why are there so many, and what can you as a property owner do to benefit from your parking lot?
Wide Open Spaces
According to Fast Company, there are eight parking spots for every car in America. That’s roughly two billion parking spots to service the 250 million cars on the road. By anyone’s metrics – urban planners, developers, climate scientists – this constitutes an oversupply.
The issue goes back to the mid-1950s (at the latest) when cities across North America pushed an experiment called “minimum parking requirements.” These zoning code mandates forced developers to supply on-site parking in an effort to curb urban congestion. While well-intentioned, there was a massive downside: too many parking spots. To this day, parking requirements still force developers to create spaces they aren’t sure owners can fill.
All of this comes at a property owner’s expense. How do you fill these spaces? Further, how can you transform these spaces into areas that benefit the community?
This is where parking management solutions come in. Recently, parking management companies have made a push to optimize, revitalize and repurpose these open urban spaces – to the benefit of property owners.
Essentially, parking management companies offer property owners parking solutions that drive occupancy and profit. They develop site-specific parking plans that solve operational sticking points and cater to users. And they utilize modern technology to make parking simpler. In plain terms: they get people into your parking lot.
Moreover, at least one of these companies – REEF, the largest parking network in North America – has taken the parking lot a step further. In addition to offering parking solutions, they have transformed parking lots into multi-purpose hubs for modular applications like delivery kitchens, fulfillment and logistics centers, and micro-healthcare clinics. You can partner with them to transform your property’s space into a buzzing, thriving centre of commercial activity.
Revitalizing and Community-Building
Beyond the immediate monetary benefits, transforming your parking lots can help revitalize your property and add value to the community. In transforming your parking spaces into multi-purpose hubs, you enrich the surrounding community by offering people access to amenities and business opportunities. You also make your commercial property more attractive (it’s easier to find tenants when there are restaurants, amenities and sophisticated parking solutions close by).
Don’t sit on an empty parking lot, pouring money into upkeep and maintenance just to see it go unused. Consider your property’s parking lot an opportunity to add revenue streams, revitalize your asset and enrich the surrounding community.
