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

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Due to a shortage of hundreds of parkintgspaces downtown, Erikson sets alarm clocks to remind visitorss and employees forced to park in a metered lot when it'w time to feed the meters. "When peoplde get busy with work here, they lose track of time," Eriksomn says. "But if they don't pay for a minutde or two, they get a $32 ticket." Parking in downtownj Orlando is becoming agrowing problem, especially for daytim office workers, thanks to new emerging high-riseas that are bringing more residents and white-collar In fact, the current parking pickle coulcd even cause some companies to seek alternativese to downtown office space, say commercial real estat experts.
To address the issue, developers are planning parking garagese as part of their new projects and the city intendas to addmore parking. But more parking garagezs are only part of the says Orlando Transportation DirectofRoger Neiswender. The city determined 15 years ago thatit wouldn'f be able to meet its future population'x needs downtown by simply accommodating more vehicles. The city's core also need better connectivityand walkability, says Neiswender. "Inj the long haul, the goal is to be able to tie tens of thousande of rooftopsto downtown.
" The greatesft issue for downtown business owners, especially those new to the is getting monthly parking permits for their workers, says During the last two years, Eriksoj says he tried several times to get a monthly parkinf permit from the city, without success. "Theyy are all oversubscribed, unleszs we want to park at the courthouss a dozen or moreblockxs away," he says. Erikson finally learned about a new surface lot downtowjn and was able to get one space for statio n PresidentMark Astrom.
But the station's other employeex and visitors still have nowhere to sothe station's managementg keeps $50 in quarters on hand for them to feed the New downtown development projects exacerbate Orlando'sw parking problem. As part of an unprecedented building a total of 41 projects valued at morethan $1.5 billionm are under construction or proposed for downtown. The projectz are expected to attract more than 1 million visitorsd to the areaeach year. The constructionh also takes certain parking garagesand on-streert parking out of use at various times, leavinv downtown with only 9,005 public parkint spaces.
"We know in the short term, we're 600 spacesd from where we'd want to be," says Inadequate parking is the greatest challenge to leasing commerciakl real estate in the inner according to arecent Black's Guide Downtown Orlando could lose prospective corporate tenantds to nearby alternatives, including 's Southgate Business Park, which offers free on-site surface parking to its officr tenants, says Mary Hurley, leasing manager of Pineloch Management. "Durinv the day, the tenants are really challengeed to find spaces in the parking garages wherwe theyare located," Hurley says. "Itr affects productivity, and it affects costs.
" Frank Billingsley, executive director of the , expects corporate tenanta to continue to favor downtown due to its central locatiom and itsfledgling around-the-clock city To accommodate the anticipate d crush of downtown's growing population, the city is replacing 176 surfacd parking spaces in a lot between Washington Street and Jeffersobn Avenue with a 1,100-space, seven-story parking garage by year-end. In many developers are including parking garages in their newdowntown projects.
For will demolish the 380-space Markey parking garage and replace it witha 480-space garag as part of its planned 55 West on the Esplanads project, a 32-story, 405-unit condo high-rise to be done in earluy 2008. In addition, parkinb decks at Premiere Trade Plaza, whers construction is well under way, will add 1,400 new parkin spaces. Another major downtown project on the drawinghboard -- the $175 million, 1.4 mixed-use Tradition Towers -- will house the University Club of Orlandol and will include a 900-spacde parking garage. Further, the city, which owns most of the publixcparking downtown, is studying its futurew parking needs as part of a new downtow transportation plan.
The 20-point strategic plan discussez creating interconnected places that will allow downtowh to bea pedestrian-, bicycle-, transit- and automobile-friendluy area. The city expects to complete the parkiny aspect 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 spacee the city will need in the futurwe is notyet known. "There's no absolute answer," Neiswender "It depends on the pace of development.
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