6 ms·

Why isn't it possible? More likely it's just not profitable, because most people are only willing to spend so much money paying for parking, and often "downtow

Why isn't it possible? More likely it's just not profitable, because most people are only willing to spend so much money paying for parking, and often "downtown" land is quite expensive.

MBCook 8y ago
It would have to get past zoning/etc. when many cities are fighting to get more people to move into downtown removing buildings and putting up parking may be seen as a problem/eyesore. I think basic profitability is probably the #1 and #2 answers.
SpicyLemonZest 8y ago
Sometimes it's completely forbidden for zoning reasons. Sometimes it's a regulatory risk. If the local residents decide they don't want a parking structure, they won't offer you a fair market price to stop it; they'll just try and get city officials to deny or obstruct all the permits you need. (And a large construction project needs a lot of permits in most jurisdictions.) Sometimes it's just prohibitively expensive to convert. In order to tear down a typical commercial building, you'd have to either buy out everyone's leases or wait for up to a decade for them to expire. This imposes a huge deadweight cost that wouldn't be there if enough parking had been built in the first place.
- paulsutter 8y ago
  Your reflexive concern that parking wont get built is well-founded. Parking is just plain shitty. Let's have less of it.
  - closeparen 8y ago
    Only a tiny portion of most metro area populations can live in the zoned housing capacity of central business districts. Only a handful of cities have remotely passable public transit systems. Everyone else needs parking.
    - paulsutter 8y ago
      You are so right. Let's attack both of the challenges you identified, and solve them > Only a handful of cities have remotely passable public transit systems. > Only a tiny portion of most metro area populations can live in the zoned housing capacity of central business districts
    - dantheman 8y ago
      And they and their companies can pay for it. There should be more parking garages and less parking lots and on-street parking. It's important to get make all the costs transparent so people can make good decisions. Maybe the office will move from downtown to somewhere closer to their workers -- reducing congestion and commute time.
      - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
        >And they and their companies can pay for it. There should be more parking garages and less parking lots and on-street parking. These statements are contradictory! Making business pay for their own results in on-street parking parking lots and minimum parking requirements. When you centrally plan parking you get parking garages.
    - notatoad 8y ago
      >Only a handful of cities have remotely passable public transit systems. Everyone else needs parking. They don't need parking. They need a solution to enable access to the downtown core. The solution you want is parking, because that's the status quo. Improving public transit is also a solution - It's not actually impossible to build.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - closeparen 8y ago
aaronchall 8y ago
I'm aware of a deal where a consortium bought a plot in a downtown area to build a tower, and demand went down so they went into a holding pattern while making money on the parking.

Why isn't it possible? More likely it's just not profitable, because most people are only willing to spend so much money paying for parking, and often "downtown" land is quite expensive.

MBCook 8y ago

It would have to get past zoning/etc. when many cities are fighting to get more people to move into downtown removing buildings and putting up parking may be seen as a problem/eyesore. I think basic profitability is probably the #1 and #2 answers.

SpicyLemonZest 8y ago

Sometimes it's completely forbidden for zoning reasons. Sometimes it's a regulatory risk. If the local residents decide they don't want a parking structure, they won't offer you a fair market price to stop it; they'll just try and get city officials to deny or obstruct all the permits you need. (And a large construction project needs a lot of permits in most jurisdictions.) Sometimes it's just prohibitively expensive to convert. In order to tear down a typical commercial building, you'd have to either buy out everyone's leases or wait for up to a decade for them to expire. This imposes a huge deadweight cost that wouldn't be there if enough parking had been built in the first place.

paulsutter 8y ago
Your reflexive concern that parking wont get built is well-founded. Parking is just plain shitty. Let's have less of it.
- closeparen 8y ago
  Only a tiny portion of most metro area populations can live in the zoned housing capacity of central business districts. Only a handful of cities have remotely passable public transit systems. Everyone else needs parking.
  - paulsutter 8y ago
    You are so right. Let's attack both of the challenges you identified, and solve them > Only a handful of cities have remotely passable public transit systems. > Only a tiny portion of most metro area populations can live in the zoned housing capacity of central business districts
  - dantheman 8y ago
    And they and their companies can pay for it. There should be more parking garages and less parking lots and on-street parking. It's important to get make all the costs transparent so people can make good decisions. Maybe the office will move from downtown to somewhere closer to their workers -- reducing congestion and commute time.
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      >And they and their companies can pay for it. There should be more parking garages and less parking lots and on-street parking. These statements are contradictory! Making business pay for their own results in on-street parking parking lots and minimum parking requirements. When you centrally plan parking you get parking garages.
  - notatoad 8y ago
    >Only a handful of cities have remotely passable public transit systems. Everyone else needs parking. They don't need parking. They need a solution to enable access to the downtown core. The solution you want is parking, because that's the status quo. Improving public transit is also a solution - It's not actually impossible to build.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - closeparen 8y ago

aaronchall 8y ago

I'm aware of a deal where a consortium bought a plot in a downtown area to build a tower, and demand went down so they went into a holding pattern while making money on the parking.