New high-rises attract additional workers, create parking shortages - Orlando Business Journal:

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Due to a shortage of hundreds of parking spaces Erikson sets alarm clocks to remindr visitors and employees forced to park in a meteredd lotwhen it's time to feed the meters. "When peoplde get busy with work here, they lose tracm of time," Erikson says. "But if they don'ty pay for a minute or two, they get a $32 Parking in downtown Orlando is becoming agrowinh problem, especially for daytime office workers, thanks to new emerginvg high-rises that are bringing more residents and white-collar In fact, the current parking pickle coul even cause some companies to seek alternativesd to downtown office space, say commercial real estatw experts.
To address the issue, developerws are planning parking garages as part of theird new projects and the city intends to add more But more parking garages are only part of the says Orlando Transportation DirectorRoger Neiswender. The city determinerd 15 years ago thatit wouldn't be able to meet its futurer population's needs downtown by simply accommodatin g more vehicles. The city's core also needsd better connectivityand walkability, says "In the long haul, the goal is to be able to tie tens of thousandd of rooftops to The greatest issue for downtownb business owners, especially those new to the is getting monthly parking permits for their workers, says Erikson.
Durinh the last two years, Erikson says he tried severall times to get a monthly parkingg permit fromthe city, without success. "They are all unless we want to park at the courthouser a dozen or more blocks he says. Erikson finally learned aboug a new surface lot downtown and was able to get one spacs for station PresidentMark Astrom. But the station's othetr employees and visitors still have nowherewto park, so the station's management keeps $50 in quartersa on hand for them to feed the meters. New downtown development projectsexacerbate Orlando' s parking problem. As part of an unprecedentedd building boom, a total of 41 projects valuedf at morethan $1.
5 billion are under constructio n or proposed for downtown. The projects are expectexd to attract more than 1 million visitorsz to the area each The construction also takes certain parking garagesand on-streeg parking out of use at various times, leaving downtown with only 9,006 public parking spaces. "We know in the shorgt term, we're 600 spaces from where we'sd want to be," says Neiswender.
Inadequate parkintg is the greatest challenge to leasing commercial real estates in theinner city, according to a recent Black's Guide Downtown Orlando could lose prospective corporate tenantd to nearby alternatives, including 's Southgat Business Park, which offers free on-site surface parkinh to its office tenants, says Mary Hurley, leasing manager of Pinelochb Management. "During the day, the tenants are really challenged to find spacesw in the parking garages where theyare located," Hurley says. "It affectw productivity, and it affects costs.
" However, Frank executive director of the , expect s corporate tenants to continue to favofr downtown due to its central location and itsfledglintg around-the-clock city lifestyle. To accommodate the anticipated crushof downtown'sw growing population, the city is replacing 176 surface parkint spaces in a lot between Washington Streey and Jefferson Avenue with a 1,100-space, seven-story parking garage by In addition, many developers are includingf parking garages in their new downtown For example, will demolish the 380-space Market parkinhg garage and replace it with a 480-space garagr as part of its planned 55 West on the Esplanade a 32-story, 405-unit condo high-risw to be done in early 2008.
In parking decks at Premiere Trade Plaza, wherew construction is well under way, will add 1,400 new parkinb spaces. Another major downtown project on the drawingyboard -- the $175 million, 1.4 million-square-foot, mixed-use Traditioj Towers -- will house the University Club of Orlandpo and will include a 900-spaced parking garage. Further, the city, which owns most of the publiccparking downtown, is studying its future parkintg needs as part of a new downtown transportationj plan. The 20-point strategic plan discusses creatinb interconnected places that will allow downtown to bea bicycle-, transit- and automobile-friendlyh area.
The city expects to complete the parkingy aspect of the plan next Inthe meantime, if the city gets in a it will open surface parking at the says Billingsley. Exactly how many parking spacex the city will need in the futurr is notyet known. "There's no absolut e answer," Neiswender says. "It depends on the pace of development."