Parking Is More Than Regulation, It’s Cultural

Developers are pushing for updates to the city’s parking regulations, but even if the the industry could convince the city to reduce parking requirements, car usage is cultural in Los Angeles. Without adequate parking on multifamily projects, developers may find challenges leasing units upon completion. In the interim decade or decades before cars become obsolete, replaced by either an efficient public transit system or driverless cars, developers will need to find a stepping stone between expensive subterranean parking or bulky surface area parking and no parking at all.

“People are welcoming a denser lifestyle in this city,” Simon M. Aftalion, development director at Markwood Enterprises, tells GlobeSt.com. “Developers are seeing that shift, and they are revisiting how to park these sites. Even if we can incentivize the city’s planning department to require less parking, you still need to consider how you will lease those units in a city where most people have a car. “It is definitely a slow dance towards trying to figure out how to park in a non-traditional way.”

Markwood is implementing automated and semi-automated parking in its developments as an alternative. Aftalion says that these systems are both space and cost effective for new construction, and expects the company will never go back to standard parking options. “I don’t think that we have looked at a potential acquisition without thinking about some form of automated parking,” he says. “For ground-up development, I don’t think that we are going to do traditional parking again ever because it doesn’t make sense.” Despite Markwood’s success and recommendation, the firm finds many developers are hesitant to adopt automated systems. “Developers are apprehensive, and they are concerned that tenants won’t be comfortable with it. I personally think that people are going to be more comfortable with it,” says Aftalion.