June 2016 — Office Properties Quarterly —
Page 11
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Professional, medical and dental space in Brighton, Commerce City, Westminster, Firestone & Thornton • (303) 862-6367 •
DENVER • BUFFALO • ROCHESTER • AUSTIN
Offer your clients
office space
that grows
with them.
Market Drivers
because they don’t adjust for pres-
ence factor (i.e., the percentage of
employees who many not drive to
work on a given day or may not be
present at peak hours due to meet-
ings, paid time off, travel and tele-
commuting). Also, employers often
underestimate the impact of transit
use and other transportation alterna-
tives on parking needs, especially in
markets where monthly parking rates
are high. It’s a mistake to assume that
all employees want to drive to work
or can afford to do so.
In many markets, an increase in
employee density does not necessar-
ily lead to a need for more parking
spaces. Many of the industries men-
tioned above as candidates for higher
density are also the same industries
that attract younger, more urban and
more progressive employees.
In markets like Denver, it is typical
to expect drive-to-work numbers in
the range of 30 to 40 percent within
the downtown core, largely because
much of the available monthly park-
ing is expensive. For example, an
unreserved permit sells for roughly
$190 a month. Meanwhile, transit
alternatives are plentiful as is the
availability of new housing options
located within walking or biking dis-
tance.With so many alternatives for
getting to work and a healthy market
for competing commercial parking,
it doesn’t make sense to build to a
very high ratio for new construction,
regardless of the projected density of
the building.
Outside of the downtown core,
much of the new and proposed office
building development is occurring at
transit-oriented locations such as the
River North neighborhood, Belleview
Station, Orchard, the Fitzsimons cam-
pus, and along the new RTD lines
servicingWestminster, Lakewood
and Aurora. At these station areas,
some owners may be considering the
option of developing higher-density
buildings and must decide whether
they should park these buildings at a
high ratio. They should keep in mind
that high parking ratios often lead to
more surface parking spaces and less
density overall. This tends to coun-
teract the effect of being at a location
that is transit adjacent.
Many developers that are experi-
enced with urban infill and transit-
oriented development projects are
seeking to park office buildings at a
lower ratio with a plan to share this
parking with a mix of evening and
nighttime uses. An example would
be One Belleview Station, which,
at build-out, is expected to have a
mix of residential, office and retail
on a relatively dense infill footprint;
the overall parking ratio provided is
around 2.5:1,000.
At this and similar TOD locations,
a lower ratio of parking spaces com-
bined with appropriate parking poli-
cies – car share, eco pass, bike facili-
ties on site and pay parking – can
allow the development to function
effectively. Tenants for this type of
development generally are aware that
there will be less parking available
than at a more suburban location,
and their employees typically value
having access to transit and a mix of
on-site uses over plentiful parking.
According to the Urban Land Insti-
tute, the typical parking demand
generation rate for office is 2.55 to
3.55 spaces per 1,000 sf, based on the
building size and density. Background
research from the Institute of Traf-
fic Engineer’s (Parking Generation,
4th Edition), confirms that this ratio
should be enough to satisfy parking
for up to at least the 95th percentile
in terms of potential building densi-
ties. This statistic excludes medical
office buildings, which have a higher
need for parking than typical offices.
Evidence suggests that office build-
ing densities are increasing and some
in the industry argue that this should
mean that more parking spaces are
required for new buildings. However,
due to the trends in office build-
ing development, TOD projects and
the needs of younger employees, it
might prove shortsighted to build
more parking for offices as a default.
Instead, owners and developers
should work with their consultants to
approach each site as a new location
and find a parking ratio that is a right
fit for that building type, keeping in
mind density, local alternatives and
the impact of transit on the site.
In addition, developers working in
today’s environment need to be aware
of trends in technology that may
change the way the industry views
parking and access. Technologies
such as driverless vehicles, the rise of
Uber and Lyft, car sharing and other
services are all trends to watch when
planning for new buildings.
Does a plan for building density
make sense when considering the
parking supply? Absolutely. But is
6:1,000 sf the right parking ratio for
higher-density offices? In many cases,
I would suggest considering all the
alternatives before building to a ratio
that may not be needed in the near
future.
s
Walker Parking Consultants
Typical industry-average parking demand ratios and building densities are shown
above. The range recommended by Urban Land Institute for new buildings is highlighted.
