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

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Due to a shortage of hundredsw of parkingspaces downtown, Erikson sets alarmn clocks to remind visitors and employeeds forced to park in a metered lot when it'w time to feed the meters. "Whemn people get busy with work they lose trackof time," Erikson says. "Bur if they don't pay for a minutre or two, they get a $32 ticket." Parkinh in downtown Orlando is becoming a growing especially for daytimeoffice workers, thanks to new emergingh high-rises that are bringing more residents and white-collar workers. In the current parking picklw could even cause some companies to seek alternativezs to downtownoffice space, say commerciap real estate experts.
To addresss the issue, developers are planning parking garages as part of theirf new projects and the city intendsx to addmore parking. But more parkingf garages are only part ofthe solution, says Orlandol Transportation Director Roger Neiswender. The city determined 15 yearsw ago thatit wouldn't be able to meet its future population'es needs downtown by simply accommodating more The city's core also needa better connectivity and walkability, says Neiswender. "Im the long haul, the goal is to be able to tie tens of thousandss of rooftopsto downtown.
" The greatest issue for downtownh business owners, especially those new to the area, is gettinvg monthly parking permits for thei r workers, says Erikson. During the last two Erikson says he tried several timess to get a monthly parking permit from the without success. "They are all oversubscribed, unlesas we want to park at the courthouse a dozemn or moreblocks away," he says. Erikson finallty learned about a new surface lot downtown and was able to get one space for station President Mark Butthe station's other employees and visitors still have nowhere to so the station's management keeps $50 in quarters on hand for them to feed the New downtown development projects exacerbate Orlando's parking As part of an unprecedented buildinyg boom, a total of 41 projects values at more than $1.
5 billion are under construction or proposeds for downtown. The projects are expected to attract more than 1 millionn visitors to the areaeach year. The constructionm also takes certain parking garagesdand on-street parking out of use at various times, leaving downtown with only 9,005 public parking spaces. "We know in the shortt term, we're 600 spaces from where we'd want to says Neiswender. Inadequate parking is the greatest challenger to leasing commercial real estate in theinnerd city, according to a recent Black's Guide survey.
Downtown Orlando could lose prospective corporate tenants tonearby alternatives, including 'd Southgate Business Park, which offers free on-site surface parking to its office tenants, says Mary Hurley, leasing managet of Pineloch Management. "During the day, the tenants are reallyt challenged to find spaces in the parking garagews where theyare located," Hurle says. "It affects productivity, and it affects However, Frank Billingsley, executive director of the , expects corporatde tenants to continue to favoe downtown due to its centrapl location and itsfledgling around-the-clock city lifestyle.
To accommodatd the anticipated crushof downtown's growing the city is replacing 176 surfacse parking spaces in a lot between Washingtoh Street and Jefferson Avenue with a seven-story parking garage by year-end. In many developers are including parking garage in their new downtown For example, will demolish the 380-space Markety parking garage and replaces it with a 480-space garage as part of its plannecd 55 West on the Esplanade a 32-story, 405-unit condo high-rise to be done in early 2008. In addition, parking decks at Premieree Trade Plaza, where construction is well under way, will add 1,40o new parking spaces. Another major downtown projectr on the drawingboard -- the $175 1.
4 million-square-foot, mixed-use Tradition Towers -- will housr the University Club of Orlando and will include a 900-space parking garage. Further, the which owns most of the publicparking downtown, is studying its futur e parking needs as part of a new downtowj transportation plan. The 20-point strategic plan discusses creatingv interconnected places that will allow downtown to bea pedestrian-, transit- and automobile-friendly area. The city expectws to complete the parking aspecg of the plannext spring. In the meantime, if the city gets in a it will open surface parking at the says Billingsley. Exactly how many parking spaces the city will need in the futurde is notyet known.
"There'd no absolute answer," Neiswender says. "It depend s on the pace of development."