The Insanity of Parking and Its Cost
August 20, 2019City of Cape Coral (FL) Considers Lifting Parking Requirements
October 4, 2019Last week, Urbanica Management became the proud owner of the very last piece of open land in the extremely trendy and coveted Miami Beach. The article caught our eye, because, to be honest, we were quite surprised to hear that there still was land available to develop in Miami Beach!.
As stated in their website, “Urbanica has expanded into the hospitality business since 2005 with the construction and operation of Urbanica The Suites Hotel, located in the neighborhood of Belgrano in the city of Buenos Aires”.
Why was this lot open still?
The 0.98-acre lot located at 6747 Collins Avenue is the very last beachfront property in the very desirable and profitable coast of Miami Beach, an ideal location to develop hotels or condominiums. So how come was this premium lot still available? Well, according to the article, other potential developers had previously purchased the lot but pulled back from developing it once they realized the buildable space was “too small”. We suspect part of the problem was the all-to-familiar quagmire between building income-producing square footage and still complying with parking requirements.
If only traditional parking solutions were considered for the development, parking would for sure take up a significant chunk of the $40M land investment, thus hindering efforts to build the income-producing square footage required to offset such lavish price tag; and even if developers had enough space to build AND comfortably satisfy parking requirements, wouldn’t they want to optimize the use of their land to the max and squeeze as much income-producing development as they possibly can? After all, real estate development is a business, and as in all business plans, investors are in for the opportunity to see the most return on their investment.
If only traditional parking solutions were considered for the development, parking would for sure take up a significant chunk of the $40M land investment, thus hindering efforts to build the income-producing square footage required to offset such lavish price tag; and even if developers had enough space to build AND comfortably satisfy parking requirements, wouldn’t they want to optimize the use of their land to the max and squeeze as much income-producing development as they possibly can? After all, real estate development is a business, and as in all business plans, investors are in for the opportunity to see the most return on their investment.
Why is this a good opportunity?
While Miami Beach is well accustomed to parking woes and familiar with mechanical parking systems (as we understand it, there are many dependent mechanical stackers for valet service in the area) the natural next step for cities like Miami Beach should be embracing innovative parking concepts and parking technologies with the capability of greatly improving the chances of providing service to drivers (whether local or foraneous) without sacrificing the extremely valuable square inch of land that this magnificent and vibrant coastal city has to offer.
With Automated Parking Systems, the possibilities are endless: providing enough parking for the booming and continuous commercial activity offered by beaches, hotels, restaurants, resorts, shopping centers and a throbbing nightlife; plenty of design flexibility to preserve and maintain the internationally famous and very distinctive art-deco architecture in the area; sustainable and environmentally friendly technology that contributes with the City’s conservationist spirit; unparallel capabilities for infill development (so important in such a dense urban center); opportunity to maximize relevant, livable and enjoyable development (including more green spaces) by significantly reducing the space devoted to parking; and, why not, providing locals and visitors alike with what is now considered as the new “amenity” is most luxury developments in the United States. With Automated Parking, the possibilities are endless.
With Automated Parking Systems, the possibilities are endless: providing enough parking for the booming and continuous commercial activity offered by beaches, hotels, restaurants, resorts, shopping centers and a throbbing nightlife; plenty of design flexibility to preserve and maintain the internationally famous and very distinctive art-deco architecture in the area; sustainable and environmentally friendly technology that contributes with the City’s conservationist spirit; unparallel capabilities for infill development (so important in such a dense urban center); opportunity to maximize relevant, livable and enjoyable development (including more green spaces) by significantly reducing the space devoted to parking; and, why not, providing locals and visitors alike with what is now considered as the new “amenity” is most luxury developments in the United States. With Automated Parking, the possibilities are endless.
Automated Parking has the capability to efficiently and cost-effectively solve a great deal of the space issue in Miami Beach and any other dense urban centers like it, freeing more land for visionary developers like Urbanica to overcome parking challenges and bring their dream projects to fruition.
For Urbanica and their hotel plans (for example), an Automated Parking tower may mean providing 70 parking spots in the space of three … yes, you got the math right, 70 vehicles parked in the footprint of three traditional parking spaces. Wouldn’t you think a Parking Tower would be the perfect addition to what we know will be a luxurious Miami Beach Front hotel?
Although we know what Urbanica plans to build, we still don’t know what “it” will become. In the meantime, all we see is an exceptional opportunity to make good use of the best, most technologically advanced and most environmentally friendly space-saving solution currently available with the most flexibility for design. Congratulations to Urbanica on this very iconic addition to their portfolio and we look forward to seeing what they are going to do with their space… we certainly hope they consider all the possibilities, for the last available beachfront lot in Miami Beach, it is certainly worth it!!!