Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Retailers with a primarily suburban business model (that is, almost all large retailers) view a site with no parking as a major deficiency. They will demand a higher neighborhood income and strong demonstrated foot traffic to make up for the lack of parking.
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U.S. chain retailers are notorious for overestimating their parking needs in transit-rich neighborhoods. They could probably save themselves a ton of money by actually listening to planners and the community.
There's a huge 10-year old retail center in the South Bronx that has thousands of garage parking spaces. When it was built, locals insisted that the developer was wasting his money, as the neighborhood has like 30% auto ownership, and lower income households aren't gonna pay for garage parking anyways. They built it, and the garage sits 80% empty.
When Whole Foods was scouting Williamsburg, Brooklyn locations, the big holdup was their silly parking requirement. All the Manhattan Whole Foods have no parking, but for whatever reason, they insisted on parking for the Williamsburg location, even though car ownership is the same as Manhattan. They finally opened, with a paid underground garage, and it sits mostly empty. Neighborhood residents don't have cars, and those that do aren't typically gonna shell out $10 to pick up a few groceries.