Tag Archives: downtowns

In Defense of On-street Parking

on-street parking in Boston

Editor’s Note: The IPMI Blog is re-posting some of our biggest hits from 2019 through the holidays. New posts will resume on January 2.

By David Feehan

The media are full of stories of cities removing on-street parking spaces to create bike lanes. Let me state at the outset that I am all in favor of bike-riding, though I don’t count myself among bike riders. I am also aware of and support efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and bikes have numerous advantages in terms of the nation’s and the world’s health and well-being.

I am still waiting to see, however, the definitive study measuring the effect of eliminating on-street parking in business districts on merchants and their survival.

A few years ago, I was part of a team conducting a parking study in Fort Collins, Colo. The question came up: What would be the effect of eliminating on-street parking on one of that city’s busy downtown streets?

We were not commissioned to answer that question. But as the former director of downtown organizations in Kalamazoo; Detroit; Columbia, Md.; and Des Moines, along with business district organizations in Pittsburgh, I had some understanding of what convenient parking meant to local merchants. So I did some rough calculations.

I estimated the typical block in downtown as being 300 feet in length, then subtracted 10 feet on each end to gauge the frontal linear feet of storefronts. That equaled 280 feet. I estimated that most storefronts were 20 feet in width. I figured each parking space should be 18 feet long, so this meant about 15 parking spaces per block. I estimated the stores would be about 100 feet deep. That means the block would have about 28,000 square feet of selling space, and I was told that most merchants were averaging sales of $150 per square foot, though some were doing as well as $400 a square foot. This meant that the block should be doing at least $4.2 million in sales annually. A rough estimate would suggest that each parking space on that block was worth $280,000 in sales to that block, or $20,000 in sales to each merchant. As you can see, removing parking in front of the store could have a major effect on downtown businesses.

Of course, these are rough calculations. They do not account for nearby surface lots or parking garages, nor do they account for patrons riding bikes or on foot. But many cold-weather cities see bike and walking traffic decline precipitously when it’s snowing or sleeting, and many depend on the nighttime economy to survive–and many people feel safer having a car at night. For those of us in the downtown management business, it is a powerful argument for having the merchant and his or her employees park in a location other than in front of the store.

So before a city decides to eliminate on-street parking, someone should do a careful and rigorous analysis of the impact on Main Street. A lively Main Street can make the difference in attracting people to your town; a vacant, lifeless Main Street can have the opposite effect. Just ask your local merchant.

David Feehan is president of Civitas Consultants, LLC.

In Defense of On-street Parking

on-street parking in BostonBy David Feehan

The media are full of stories of cities removing on-street parking spaces to create bike lanes. Let me state at the outset that I am all in favor of bike-riding, though I don’t count myself among bike riders. I am also aware of and support efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and bikes have numerous advantages in terms of the nation’s and the world’s health and well-being.

I am still waiting to see, however, the definitive study measuring the effect of eliminating on-street parking in business districts on merchants and their survival.

A few years ago, I was part of a team conducting a parking study in Fort Collins, Colo. The question came up: What would be the effect of eliminating on-street parking on one of that city’s busy downtown streets?

We were not commissioned to answer that question. But as the former director of downtown organizations in Kalamazoo; Detroit; Columbia, Md.; and Des Moines, along with business district organizations in Pittsburgh, I had some understanding of what convenient parking meant to local merchants. So I did some rough calculations.

I estimated the typical block in downtown as being 300 feet in length, then subtracted 10 feet on each end to gauge the frontal linear feet of storefronts. That equaled 280 feet. I estimated that most storefronts were 20 feet in width. I figured each parking space should be 18 feet long, so this meant about 15 parking spaces per block. I estimated the stores would be about 100 feet deep. That means the block would have about 28,000 square feet of selling space, and I was told that most merchants were averaging sales of $150 per square foot, though some were doing as well as $400 a square foot. This meant that the block should be doing at least $4.2 million in sales annually. A rough estimate would suggest that each parking space on that block was worth $280,000 in sales to that block, or $20,000 in sales to each merchant. As you can see, removing parking in front of the store could have a major effect on downtown businesses.

Of course, these are rough calculations. They do not account for nearby surface lots or parking garages, nor do they account for patrons riding bikes or on foot. But many cold-weather cities see bike and walking traffic decline precipitously when it’s snowing or sleeting, and many depend on the nighttime economy to survive–and many people feel safer having a car at night. For those of us in the downtown management business, it is a powerful argument for having the merchant and his or her employees park in a location other than in front of the store.

So before a city decides to eliminate on-street parking, someone should do a careful and rigorous analysis of the impact on Main Street. A lively Main Street can make the difference in attracting people to your town; a vacant, lifeless Main Street can have the opposite effect. Just ask your local merchant.

David Feehan is president of Civitas Consultants, LLC.

A Rain Forest in Downtown Des Moines?

By David M. Feehan

Twenty years ago, a bright, young millionaire proposed an eye-popping idea for downtown Des Moines, Iowa: a 10-acre, under glass, rain forest. Now, Des Moines is a wonderful town, but not exactly a tourist mecca. What would a rain forest the size of four Walmarts do to downtown Des Moines?

Well, certainly it would consume acreage–an estimated 30 acres. And it would need power. As one consultant said, “When you pull the switch to turn this baby on, every light in Des Moines will dim.” But could a massive tourist attraction succeed in the middle of Iowa? My job was to find out. I was president of the downtown organization and the mayor asked me to staff a task force to evaluate a number of major projects being proposed–an arena, a convention center, a new library, a food and fiber center, and a sculpture garden, to name a few.

I identified a “brain trust” of specialists in several categories. One was a former Disney executive. He did some quick calculations. “You are in a market for a two-hour drive of 3 million people,” he began “Visitors need to depart home and get back in one day. You need a market of 12 million people to support this or you need to get people to come by air. And your airport isn’t big enough and you need 12,000 hotel rooms the day it opens and you only have 7,000.” The rain forest consultant projected annual attendance at 2 million, and the parking lot he proposed was dramatically too small. Furthermore, if Des Moines were to build the other facilities that were on the drawing board, well, we had better start building parking garages by the score.

The local community and civic leaders came to their senses. They determined that the arena, the convention center, and the other major projects were needed and made more sense with far less risk. They believed the Disney executive who projected the rain forest would have operating losses of $10 million annually. The rain forest was then proposed in Cedar Rapids, which made the same calculations Des Moines had. It then traveled to Iowa City, and then to Coralville. Despite a $50 million earmark by an Iowa senator, the project died a quiet death.

In 1989, a very popular Iowa-based firm contributed the saying, “If you build it, he will come.” Des Moines is very lucky and was very smart to choose projects that would serve the Iowa market. Des Moines was never going to be Orlando or Las Vegas. If we had built the rain forest, we would still be wondering what to do with an empty, domed, 400,000-square-foot facility and loads of empty hotel rooms and parking ramps.

Be careful what you wish for and be honest with yourselves about who you are. Today, downtown Des Moines is one of the most successful downtowns in the nation. Come see for yourself. But don’t look for a rain forest. Instead, go to Dyersville and see the Field of Dreams.

David M. Feehan is president of Civitas Consultants, LLC.

Economic Development, Women, and Parking

By David Feehan

I have the opportunity to give an Ignite presentation at the annual conference of the International Economic Development Council in Atlanta. Ignite presentations are like mini-TED talks. IEDC is to economic developers what IPI is to parking professionals and what the International Downtown Association (which I used to lead) is to downtown professionals.

The subject of my presentation is based on a new book I co-authored, “Design Downtown for Women – Men Will Follow.” As I prepared my presentation, I thought about my audience, and how the world of parking and the world of economic development (and for that matter, downtown development) are closely interlinked.

I can’t count the number of times I was recruiting a business for a downtown location when the first question I was asked was, “Where will my employees or my customers park?” If I could not provide a satisfactory answer, I knew I could not close the deal.

So, in this age of ride sharing and autonomous vehicles, what are parking professionals supposed to do to support economic development?

First, parking professionals should educate themselves about how economic development professionals do what they do. Parking is not just a matter of supply and demand, building well-constructed and well-designed parking facilities, or managing enforcement programs. Parking professionals need to understand how business leaders think when they are looking for locations. What are the most important issues site selectors have to deal with? For most businesses, the most important issue is: can I attract the talent I need to grow and run my business? And that means providing safe, convenient access for current and potential employees.

In terms of customers and employees, when we were doing the research for our book, we surveyed more than 100 women business leaders. What they told us was that the most hated thing about coming downtown was parking. As parking professionals, we need to understand why this is so, and do everything that we can to correct it.

Women are the most important demographic for any successful business. Women make up 60 percent of college graduates and control more than 50 percent of the private wealth in the U.S. If you are concerned about running a successful parking operation that supports economic development, ignore women at your peril.

David Feehan is president of Civitas Consulting, LLC.