We have recently lost access to the lot to the south of DBR and obtained a lease on some parking sapces at the Bellair lot across the street from us.
It is easy to make the naïve assumption that when the garage is fully functional, there will be enough parking spaces, and that the Bellair parking rental is temporary.
I do not consider that assumption credible. Let's plan ahead.
The supply of spaces is insufficient if we want to obtain revenue from the amenities.
There are fewer spaces in the garage than there are units. Someone will be unable to park in the garage, who has a legal right to do so, if everyone wants to park there at the same time.
I don't know the exact numbers, but let's assume that the spaces in front of DBR plus the garage spaces together will give enough spaces one per unit. That won't work.
The problem is that whoever uses the amenity spaces (storefronts, restaurant, bar, conference rooms) will insist on parking. If we offer some spaces, then we lose spaces for ourselves.
Let's begin with the crude assumption that the outdoor spaces in front of DBR will be exactly what we offer the users of the rented amenities. If we do, then we will need permanent access to nearby offsite parking for our own overflows. Perhaps the parking spaces at the northern edge of the Bellair Mall should be rented indefinitely. Or the vacant lot at 2733 North Atlantic Drive may be available for access.
We have to decide whether to abandon parking spaces for those who rent the income-producing amenities or expect that we the owners will have too few parking spaces. The former option is not workable, for we will have a hard time obtaining reliable tenants and we will get the city authorities upset if such tenants tell their own clients to park where they shouldn't.
As to the parking spaces actually or potentially available: they can be listed in order of descending preference:
Reserving spaces near the lobby, for owners, will keep them from being used by visitors to the amenities and cause endless arguments about stolen spaces, towing, etc. If amenity users are allowed any parking, then we pretty much have to leave the front-lot spaces open for them.
It's possible that a large gathering will require more spaces than the immediately nearby ones will supply. We should consider offering the ground floor of the garage for large gatherings.
There are barcodes that can be shown to a barcode reader or taped on an owner's car window that will operate a lift gate. We can therefore add a lift gate at the entrance to the garage and a seond one at the entrance to the second floor of the garage. That way, we can offer access to the ground floor of the garage, and no further, for amenity guests and restrict access tot the upper floors to ourselves and our room-rental guests.
We should also equip the entrance and exit lift gates with counters so that people are warned that all of the upper-floor garage spaces are full, or that all the ground-floor spaces are full. We will need known protocols about where to park if a driver sees a red light, or whatever warning signal that we adopt that indicates that no parking spaces are available.
If someone who wants to use the ballroom for an event that requires major parking, then having access to an off-site group of spaces will be advantageous. We can insist that whoever hosts such an event provide valet service if the expected number of attendees will overflow the outdoor spaces and the garage ground floor.
If we coordinate with our new southern neighbor, then we can perhaps rent out a few parking spaces for its occupants who do not want to pay for valet parking. Access to off-site parking spaces may allow us to rent them out on a per-event basis to its event coordinator, too.
My summary:
I don't have projections for anticipated parking needs for users of the amenities, or even the number of parking spaces needed for us owners based on the guess that not all parking spaces claimed by us owners will be needed at the same time, ever. I cannot offer authoritative answers. But I do know enough to ask these questions and hope that they will be considered now, at a leisurely pace, instead of five minutes before a major leaseholder for some conference rooms hesitates to sign a contract unless the parking issues are resolved. We don't want to be rushed.