5,800 Parking Spaces Will No Longer Be Free
by Glen Richardson
The dreaded “no parking space” syndrome is about to come back and roost on the doorstep of Cherry Creek North. Until now when city officials, developers and retailers were asked about the lack of parking spaces in Cherry Creek North, they would point to the excess of parking spaces available at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. No longer.
The Shopping Center announced that starting in January it will start to charge for parking. The Shopping Center had little choice in the matter. The City and County of Denver has been requiring less and less mandatory parking spaces at new apartment houses, condominiums and hotels. As a result, employees at retail establishments in Cherry Creek North, owners of second cars who lived in the new condominiums and apartment houses which provided for only one car, visitors to the new hotels, and even everyday shoppers to stores in Cherry Creek North were using the excess parking at Cherry Creek Shopping Center. In addition, the amount of parking spaces at the Shopping Center was being adjusted downward to accommodate the RN interior design building on 1st Ave., and a proposed hotel on the east side of the Shopping Center will further cut into parking.
The Shopping Center, of course, needs to meet the concerns of the 16 million people who visit the mall annually. Furthermore, there are more than 140 indivi
dual retailers roosting within the mall.
More than two-dozen new projects have been completed, are under construction or announced in the district in the last year. Developments being completed are resulting in an increase in new businesses, retailers, and restaurants opening their doors almost weekly. All of these new offices, retail and hotels “have put greater pressure than ever on parking here,” declares the shopping center’s longtime general manager Nick LeMasters. Yet of total parking spaces available in Cherry Creek North, the 5,800 spaces in the shopping center account for 70 percent. There are roughly only 500 parking meters in the 16-block business district, another 500 off-street spaces and just over 1,000 in public garages.
Ruffled Nest Feathers
What has increasingly been happening, according to LeMasters, is that a lot of people who do not work or shop at the mall, but apparently work in the area, are parking in the center and leaving their cars parked all day. “This has created a dynamic that is not favorable to our employees at the shopping center or to our paying customers,” he says.
A new state-of-the-art parking system is currently being installed. It will be tested in the fourth quarter of this year and rolled out in January so it won’t disrupt the holiday shopping season. Parking during the first hour will be complimentary. The second hour will cost $3. An extra dollar will be added upon hour three, raising it to $4. There will be an additional $2 each hour afterward, for a daily maximum of $16.
This parking fee at the Shopping Center will be slightly more than Cherry Creek North street parking, but customers will not have to move their cars like they do on the street. Cost will be less than most other enclosed parking garages in the district, LeMasters says. The purpose of paid parking is not to raise money, but to provide a better experience for paying customers, he emphasizes. Initially, he suspects there will be some “pushback” from customers who have long been accustomed to free parking.
Brooding Of Cost
As shoppers become accustomed to paid parking LeMasters thinks they will find it is “more than worth it.” For one thing, the state-of-the-art system by Park Assist will make it easier to park and exit the mall. Signs will tell motorists where parking is available and which parking levels are filled. Each parking space will have either a green or red light, telling customers whether an individual space is filled.
If a customer forgets where they parked, by typing their license plate into a kiosk display it will tell them where they are parked.
Increased security is expected to be a secondary benefit. “We will be adding several hundred more cameras, so that will provide an additional measure of safety and security,” LeMasters reveals. Fortunately, he adds, safety has never been a significant problem, but with many new cameras and an integrated guidance system, it is nice to have more security and an added level of safety.”
The movie theater in the Shopping Center will validate parking and other merchants can also choose to validate parking tickets. The approximately 3,000 employees at the mall will not pay for parking. Also, during special events such as the Cherry Creek Farmers Market and Cherry Creek Sneak parking will be free.
Hatching Reaction
Feedback from shoppers and those living in the neighborhood to the announcement of the parking change has been mixed. Here’s some of the first feedback from Yelpers:
“I have seen the parking situation become increasingly competitive in CCN, mostly because the construction and other workers have taken over the free two-hour spots in the neighborhood. Basically people park all day in the two-hour zone, which means that residents will ask for even more draconian constraints, i.e. permit parking only.” A totally different response: “Huh. Maybe I’ll go to the mall more if there are fewer teenagers lounging around. That’s pretty selfish, I guess.”
Summed up others: “Parking is a PITA [Pain In The A**] more and more in Denver. As densities continue to increase throughout the city, expect more charges to park your buggy in popular areas.” Added yet another: “What a bummer. As if brick and mortar retail needs another reason to be less enticing.”
Surrounded by new high-rise developments on three corners, Jason Rudofsky of Zaidy’s Deli at 1st Ave. and Adams simply says of the growth and parking, “Parking has always been a problem in Cherry Creek, this won’t make it any better.”
Gavin Berry, the General Manager of Del Frisco’s Grille at 100 St. Paul, noted, “Cherry Creek North has always had this stigma attached to it that parking is difficult. So when we came in we knew right away we wanted complimentary valet no matter what the cost might be.” He however understood that the Shopping Center “had to do what they had to do to protect their business.”
When the Chronicle inquired of Christine Des Enfants, Executive Director of the Cherry Creek Chamber, of what effect the Mall’s decision would have on Cherry Creek North, she pleasantly stated “no comment.”
Corrections & Clarifications
In the above feature on Paid Parking at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, contrary to the article the footprint of Restoration Hardware in the former Saks Fifth Avenue space did not adjust downward the number of parking spaces. Furthermore there currently are no development plans on the east side of the mall that would further cut into parking. “The 5,800 parking spaces at the mall will remain unchanged,” emphasizes General Manager Nick LeMasters.