Parking’s the Ticket

Parking is a great cash cow business that is difficult to finance (one of my clients is one of the largest private owners of parking garages in the U.S.) because financial institutions don’t understand the business, appraisers consistently value them for less than buyers are willing to pay, and developers were fixated on condos thereby replacing cash cows with black holes. New mechanical vertical parking technologies are enhancing the value by increasing the density per lot. But parking can be expensive as reported in the Economist below and finding a spot can be a challenge as reported in the NY Times article below.

PARKING is a constant bane for the urban motorist. Spaces are as hard to come by as a forgiving traffic warden, and charges are often high. London’s drivers pay most for their parking, forking out a median $1,167 a month to park in the city last year, according to a survey by Colliers International, a property firm. New Yorkers only pay half that. Australian cities are pricey-Sydney is the most expensive place to park your vehicle after London. On a daily basis, London also charges most, at $68, with bicycle-friendly Amsterdam not far behind at $66.20 a day.

Can’t Find a Parking Spot? Check Smartphone- New York Times – John Markoff – 12 July 08

SAN FRANCISCO – The secret to finding the perfect parking spot in congested cities is usually just a matter of luck. But drivers here will get some help from an innocuous tab of plastic that will soon be glued to the streets. The system uses a wireless sensor embedded in a 4-inch-by-4-inch piece of plastic, fastened to the pavement adjacent to each parking space.This fall, San Francisco will test 6,000 of its 24,000 metered parking spaces in the nation’s most ambitious trial of a wireless sensor network that will announce which of the spaces are free at any moment. Drivers will be alerted to empty parking places either by displays on street signs, or by looking at maps on screens of their smartphones. They may even be able to pay for parking by cellphone, and add to the parking meter from their phones without returning to the car……