Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheap_Shot
I live in the West Loop with a Fulton address. There are a number of public garages in the area that are COMPLETELY underutilized, especially on the weekend when visitors are most likely to use them. Just as an example, the public garage at Fulton and Union is always (ALWAYS!) at least half empty on nights and weekends. My family from out of state and local Chicago friends visiting me always use this garage, and not a single time has it been a problem in 8 years.
Parking in the West Loop is all over the place, IF you know where to find it. I don't think it's a matter of availability, but more so an issue of knowing where to go. It's such a new neighborhood, not everyone knows where all the garages are. And the ones that do exist, admittedly, don't have great signage. Additionally, just looking at apps like SpotHero or ParqEx, there are tons of spots all over up for grabs.
But, if you just have to park on Randolph, on the very same block as the restaurant you're visiting ... good luck. I know some people are unable to walk far due to medical conditions, etc. as my mom is one of them. But it's really not hard at all to find reasonable parking within a 10 minute walk of most places. If 10 minutes is too far, park close and Uber/taxi the rest of the way for $5.
My apologies for the rant, but the last thing the West Loop needs is more parking that goes underutilized 90%+ of the time.
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I think there is an argument that parking is tighter a little farther west but yea everything that went up in the last 15 years with a parking garage is underutilized, especially nights and weekends. I lived in the area for a number of years and worked there for over a decade. Paid parking is still very available within a couple blocks of a given destination and all the office buildings going up have parking that sits empty when hotels and restaurants are full that can and is being used for valet operations if a person absolutely has to get out of their car right in front of the destination.
The idea of adding high rise stand alone structured parking is insane and not at all required. I'm also not inclined to require hotels to include any parking whatsoever, as long as they can secure valet space in underutilized lots/structures which are abundant, just to placate condo owners perceptions.