Reading Between the Lines: The Evolving Rules of Parking

A customer's experience begins when they pull up to the site, so it's important to get the first impression right. Savvy retailers engaged in a location search know that it's necessary to look beyond the building footprint.

“Parking is the first and last impression of a development," explains Armen Megerdoomian, a principal and senior parking consultant at international engineering firm Walter P Moore. While office and school destinations make the best of any parking situation, retailers compete with e-commerce—and each other.

That's why the parking experience must be a welcoming one, says Megerdoomian. He can think of numerous shopping centers in Los Angeles, where he's based, that have failed largely because of inconvenient or insufficient parking.

But finding that sweet spot isn't necessarily about choosing the biggest lot. Understanding current retail parking realities and how they are evolving is a wise strategy.

What the Pros Know
While city zoning codes include parking requirements (generally, the number of spaces per gross area of use), developers often commission a parking study to determine demand, says Megerdoomian. For example, 150 total spaces may be sufficient for a shared lot with an office building and retail store that each require 100 spaces, since retail activity peaks in evening hours when most offices are closed.

“The analysis will give you a better idea of actual demand, such as weekday versus weekend, time of day, or time of year," he says.

Factors such as how the land is used, how many people are already driving to the site, and whether it's retail-only or mixed use also matter, says Chrissy Mancini Nichols, a consultant for Walker Consultants, a global consulting parking design and consulting firm. “Our parking studies have evolved to include access. It's about how people access a site, such as by scooter or bike or by walking."

Data helps determine how a lot should look, and parking experts know that in most cases, even outside of cities, 100% of customers won't drive.

Ride-Share Cares
The explosion of ride-sharing is one element that is beginning to prompt a parking rule evolution. While 33% of U.S. adults had never heard of Uber or Lyft in 2015, according to Pew Research Center data, that dropped to 3% in 2018, with 36% using the services.

For now, the biggest change has been the addition of pick-up and drop-off zones. Such areas should be accessible to customers, separate from self-parking, and not spill into the street, advises Mancini Nichols. She is seeing ride-sharing areas in parking lots, on level one of garages, and in some cases—on the curb, decisions “more and more landlords are thinking about this," she says.

In some areas where ride-share services are prevalent, the need for traditional parking spaces has decreased. “We've seen a 15% to 20% decrease in urban areas for parking demand because of it."

Smart Community Advances
The expanding transit-oriented community trend is another factor in the parking lot protocol, since it gives residents easy access to transportation and less or no reliance on a car. As a result, many cities are reducing parking ratios in these areas, presenting a huge incentive for developers and reduced traffic for all, says Megerdoomian.

“Some denser urban neighborhoods lead this shift, but it is contagious and will be embraced by more communities at various levels over time." One of his firm's recent studies, which examined how employees in a New York City shopping center were getting to work, had this significant finding: 70% use a driving alternative.

Future Rules
Retailers signing leases in both urban and suburban areas should consider the way people get places and its impact on the future of parking. “What we've seen in the past five years around parking has changed so much, you can only imagine what the next five years will bring," says Mancini Nichols.

“Mobility options are only going to increase," adds Megerdoomian. “Autonomous shuttles and buses, smaller cars, even flying taxis with drones. Who knows what will happen in our lifetime?"

The same lot, even with population growth, might be able to serve more people, he says. And perhaps parking structures will be more like mobility hubs.

With such possibilities, many developers are interested in “future-proofing" proposed parking structures with adaptive reuse options built in, allowing for an anticipated reduction in parking space demand over time.

Observation Elements
Retailers should investigate these key questions before pressing the site selection gas pedal:

• Have any parking studies been completed? “Often when we're working with developers, the parking study is made public through the planning commission or permit process," Mancini Nichols explains.
• Are there reserved spaces in the lot? “This generally indicates a problem," says Megerdoomian. “Most developers shy away from allocating spaces in a shared-use environment. If designed and planned properly, you should be able to have shared parking."
• Where will my employees park? “They'll be in those spaces all day," notes Mancini Nichols, so perhaps you'll need to restrict on-site employee parking (ideally providing assistance with alternatives) to accommodate customers.
• Is the parking area set up for ride sharing (and are these spaces running smoothly)? A suburban plaza with dropoff and pickup areas is a sign of a progressive landlord taking a more holistic approach to parking, she says.
• Are there bike racks and nice areas for people to walk into the plaza? These amenities are other signs of a future-looking landlord, explains Mancini Nichols.
• Is parking technology in use? Automated parking guidance, space counters, and red/green lights are indications of parking areas that elevate the customer experience, says Megerdoomian.
• Are people complaining about parking at the site, and are those complaints valid? Mancini Nichols recently had a client anticipating a parking problem because of comments on Yelp. But on-site observation data found the number of spots wasn't an issue. “It was more about the way the parking was assigned," she says.
• What will my customers need? A salon where clients will spend hours has very different demand than a fast-casual restaurant where there's more parking turnover, Mancini Nichols notes. In addition, retailers anticipating a particular clientele may expect a higher or lower percentage of visitors driving in.

As all of these questions imply, retail parking demand isn't an exact science. But it's important to be prepared to look between the lines before parking any business on a site.