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Short Parking Stories

September, 2017

Westfalia Advocates Automation for Building Developers Challenged with Parking Capacity


Westfalia Technologies urges building developers in the multi-family residential, office, commercial real estate, and airport and hospitality industries to consider parking automation. In recent years, population growth, lower unemployment rates and a wider array of affordable car options have contributed to significant increases in automotive sales. With more cars on the road, developers now need to provide ample parking to accommodate them—on top of tight budget constraints and already limited building footprints, particularly in congested areas.


Benefits include: 


1.    Improved Space Utilization


Typically, parking garages are designed to allow cars enough room to safely move and park, and for people to walk to and from their vehicles. But an automated garage only has to accommodate the equipment operating within the garage. In fact, automated garages require 60% less building volume and 40% less land than their traditional counterparts.


2.    Reduced Development Costs


Since automated parking facilities require less building space, developers can save on construction costs through reduced excavation and construction time, and lower land costs. These add up to huge savings that go directly back to a project’s budget. 


3.    Lower Operating Costs


Since users do not enter the garage itself, developers can realize lower ventilation costs due to the reduced requirement of only two air changes per hour. And automated garages can run in a completely lights-out environment, so lighting costs are negligible. 


4.    Minimal Environmental Impact


In an automated garage, cars are turned off before they enter the system. So, the engines aren’t running while the car is being stored and retrieved, which reduces the amount of pollutants that end up in the atmosphere by 60% to 80%. 


“Even with the advent of car-sharing programs and autonomous vehicles, providing adequate parking ... will continue to be a challenge for developers,” said Ian Todd, Director of Automated Parking.


“But by looking toward automation, developers can build garages that will be well-equipped to handle any volume of cars with a solution that is reliable, efficient, cost-effective as well as luxurious for drivers,” Todd said.  


[Source: Westfalia Technologies]


 


 


Legacy Parking Co. Expands Client Portfolio, Bolsters Leadership Team


Legacy Parking Co. has announced a series of strategic growth developments, including the signing of two new clients, as well as the appointment of Noah B. Gens as President. A 17-year veteran of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a global professional services and investment management firm, Gens is responsible for the development and implementation of Legacy Parking’s corporate operating platform and growth strategy across the U.S.


This includes deploying technology to automate processes, streamlining operations and making strategic infrastructure investments to prepare the company for its continued growth. Gens also will leverage his deep CRE industry expertise, insights and contacts to strengthen existing relationships and develop new connections with owners and managers in key operating markets. 


Headquartered in downtown Chicago, the company currently manages more than 20,000 parking spaces at commercial, mixed-use, retail and residential developments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 2012, it has experienced an average 100% annual growth, and now employs more than 100 employees.


Its clients include real estate owners and managers, such as Metropolis Investment Holdings, TransWestern, TIAA-CREF and Piedmont Office Realty Trust. 


Legacy Parking also is adding two new clients to its growing roster:


The Equitable Building Parking Portfolio: Owned and managed by Chicago-based Zeller Realty Group, the Equitable Building at 100 Peachtree in downtown Atlanta includes three parking garages and one surface lot totaling 900 parking spaces. The operation offers shuttle services to transport tenants between the Equitable Building, the Peachtree Center MARTA station and all four parking facilities.


701/801 Brickell Avenue: Owned by TIAA-CREF and managed by JLL, 701/801 Brickell Avenue (previously known as the Lincoln Center) includes two parking facilities totaling 1,995 parking spaces. The building is located in the northern Brickell Financial District, just three blocks from Biscayne Bay in Miami.


“By viewing parking facilities as high-performing assets and fully leveraging them with a clear operational strategy and high-touch management, we can help our clients harness the revenue potential of their parking structures,” said CEO Joe Wenderoth, “This value-added approach, combined with our agile, entrepreneurial mindset, has been crucial to differentiating our service offering in the marketplace and driving our growth.”


[Legacy Parking Co.]


 


 


 


Parkeon Completes Implementation of Paid Parking System at the
National Mall


Parkeon Inc. has completed installation of a new paid parking system for its client, the National Park Service (NPS). It is deployed around the National Mall, where the nation’s iconic museums and monuments can be found right in the heart of Washington, DC.


Implementation of parking meters and mobile parking payments is the result of more than a decade of planning and studies by the NPS. The analyses lead to RFPs released in late 2016 for the technology implementation and complete system operation. In February 2017, the NPS awarded the contract to Parkeon to supply and operate the new parking system.


The system consists of 102 solar-powered, wireless Strada paystations in a cashless configuration. Credit/debit cards are the only available methods of payment. These multi-space meters control about 1,200 parking spaces throughout the National Mall and Rock Creek Park.


The paystations are connected to Parkeon’s Big Data Suite, allowing both the company and NPS staff to remotely monitor the system; explore parking trends and utilization patterns; study data correlations through spatial data analytics; and study sales, occupancy and rate efficiency in real-time.


In an area where demand out-paces the supply of available spaces, the primary goal of the new system is to reduce traffic congestion by increasing parking space turnover. High turnover leads to a more fair and equitable delivery of limited public spaces. Drivers who need to use spaces temporarily during the day will find more options available because it will become much more difficult for those in the habit of monopolizing public spaces to continue to operate that way under the new system.


In addition to reduced congestion, the paid parking system will also subsidize and facilitate the use of public transportation in the area.


[Source: Parkeon Inc.]


 


Secure Our City Increases Parking Security with Farpointe Long-Range Reading Solution


Farpointe Data, the access control industry’s OEM for RFID solutions, has announced that Secure Our City Inc., an electronic security technology and low-voltage design firm based in Ashland, MA, was able to solve problems that a parking garage used by a leading healthcare organization was having with standard 125-kHz proximity readers and credentials.


By creating a new security system featuring cameras, access control and Farpointe’s Ranger LR reading system, the firm was able to make possible higher security access and provide the increased control the parking garage needed.


“We were dealing with high end customers in a challenging neighborhood, and a standard proximity system was not doing the job needed,” said Managing Partner and Founder Geva Barash. “The first thing we did was add cameras, including an analytical camera, to check for ‘piggy-backing.’


“Today, if a vehicle attempts to follow another or a person tries to follow the car into the garage, a flashing light goes off, warning the driver that they are being followed while acting as a deterrent to the offender.


“There were several other things we especially liked about the Ranger solution,” Barash said.


Versus proximity/smartcard readers, its 433 MHz receivers use button transmitters to open gates from ranges up to 200 feet. Each button outputs transmitter data over separate Wiegand outputs, yet the receiver installs just like a proximity reader for easy integration with popular card access control systems.


As a result, the Ranger receivers were a handier solution. Plus, instead of using an active card, which could potentially activate the gate from different directions, the transmitter user selects exactly when the mechanism is to be immediately triggered.


“This meant that users could drive into the garage on a year-round basis without having to open their windows, a definite benefit in Boston’s rainy springs, warm summers and cold winters,” Barash said.


To enhance security, the Ranger transmitter-to-receiver, long-range, over-the-air protocol takes advantage of a secure, digital anti-playback routine. The feature virtually eliminates the risk of “code sniffing” and unauthorized cloning.


Ranger also supports MAXSecure, a higher-security “handshake,” or code, between the transmitter and receiver to help safeguard against credential duplication and ensure that a specific end-user’s receiver will collect data only from these specially coded transmitters.


“The parking garage operator likes the entire [new] system, especially how we incorporated long-range reading into it,” Barash said. “It is keeping the wrong people out and easily letting the right people in.


[Sources: Farpointe Data, Secure Our City Inc.]



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