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Mobile Payments An Option At Some Existing Parking Meters

December 4, 2014 Featured, Parking 2 Comments

New parking meters are be coming to St. Louis; they’ll accept coins, credit cards, and mobile payments. The mobile payments aspect isn’t waiting on the new meters though, the Treasurer’s office is busy assigning “zones” to blocks so parkers have the option of paying with the Parkmobile app with the existing meters.

Zone numbers are going up  downtown, each block has a unique number.
Zone numbers are going up downtown, each block has a unique number.
The payment screen
The payment screen in the Parkmobile app, the $1 discount is from a discount code that only applies to the first purchase.

When you set up the app you can add your vehicle(s) to your list. You include the license plate number for each vehicle. Parking enforcement now coordinates with Parkmobile so it’ll see your plate is paid for that zone.

It remains to be seen how willing the public is to paying 35¢ for every transaction. When the rates go up this summer it’ll be a good alternative for someone who doesn’t have $3 in coins to park for 2 hours. The app only allows you to pay for the maximum time allowed, usually 2 hours. If you pay for an hour ($1.35 w/fee at current rates) you can be notified 15 minutes before it expires, you’ll have the option to add another hour (another $1.35). Want to stay longer than two hours? Just start a new entry for parking in the same zone. Given the 35¢ fee I don’t think we’ll see downtown workers parking at meters all day and using the app to avoid adding coins every two hours. The new rates should make more consider off-street lots and garages.

The Parkmobile app is available for many mobile devices (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and soon Amazon), a web app is also available. Click here for information on downloading an app. Even if you prefer to pay cash, or swipe your credit card once the new meters arrive, having the app on your smartphone as a backup is a good idea.

— Steve Patterson

 

New Parking Meters On Display

November 14, 2014 Featured, Parking 5 Comments

If you haven’t seen the new parking meters that are coming you can stop by the St Louis Traffic Violation Bureau at 229 N 7th St.

Meters
The new multi-space & single space meters are in the lobby

You can also use these at Laclede & Euclid, they accept coins & credit cards. If you have a smartphone (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry) you can also download a free app here or use the web app here. Note that a small convenience fee will apply if using the app.

— Steve Patterson

 

Updating Parking Garage Lighting

Yesterday I posted about a parking garage attempting, poorly, to look like numerous buildings. In researching the garage I discovered in June Cheyenne WY approved spending a little more than $130,000 to upgrade the lighting from metal halide fixtures to LED.

Bob Bradshaw, the city’s special projects director, said the current metal halide bulbs are “burning out at a rate of a couple a day” and can cost up to $260 each to replace.

Not only are the LED bulbs more energy efficient, they last longer and require less maintenance, Bradshaw said. That means the city would save money on both energy bills and maintenance costs with the new lights. (source)

The new lighting is estimated to save $253,077 over the next decade, with the break even point “in just over four years.” While in Colorado & Wyoming electricians finished replacing the old halogen lights in our condo parking garage, located underneath both buildings.  The lights are on 24 hours a day, between electricity and replacements representing over 16% of our annual budget.

Our new lighting is brighter, with better color
Our new lighting is brighter, with better color
The fixtures look just like 4-tibe fluorescents, but these are LEDs.
The fixtures look just like 4-tube fluorescents, but these are LED tubes.

A rebate from Ameren reduced our upfront costs about 30%, but it was still a substantial investment. With a payoff of just 18 months the majority of us voted to proceed.

Once our inventory of compact fluorescents (CFL) has been depleted, we’ll begin using LED bulbs in our stairwells and hallways.

— Steve Patterson

 

Parking Garage Attempts To Look Like Multiple Buildings

Parking, specifically parking garages, have been a regular topic here over the last decade, recently a musical garage in Chicago and two St. Louis apartment projects. While on my honeymoon last month we spotted another garage I want to share with you today, this one in Cheyenne Wyoming. We spent a few hours of our week-long Colorado honeymoon in neighboring Wyoming, having lunch in Cheyenne and dessert in Laramie.

Before the garage let me set show you what we saw on our Sunday visit.

My first pic in Cheyenne arriving via the I-25 Business highway/highway 85
My first pic in Cheyenne arriving via the I-25 Business highway/highway 85
Their downtown has a nice, mostly intact street grid and fine 20th century architectural stock.
Their downtown has a nice, mostly intact street grid and fine 20th century architectural stock.
We had lunch at a popular place that plays tribute to TV character Fred Sanford, portrayed by St. Louisan Red Foxx.
We had lunch at Sanford’s Grub & Pub, a regional chain with 10 locations in Wyoming, the Dakotas, and Colorado. Vague references to TV’s junkman Fred Sanford, portrayed by the late Redd Foxx, a St. Louis native.
The train station in Cheyenne WY is a beautiful structure
The historic Union Pacific Cheyenne Depot is a beautiful structure, now a transportation museum. Click the image for more information.

Cheyenne has two municipal garages, each occupying a full city block. Cheyenne, the state capital of Wyoming, also has a large state garage. We drove past one municipal garage a few times, I only discovered the other two once home and researching this post.

This garage attempts to give the appearance of multiple buildings
The Jack R. Spiker parking garage attempts to give the appearance of multiple buildings
Only one corner has occupy-able space, at Lincolnway & Pioneer, chick image for Google Streetview
Only one corner has occupy-able space (right), at Lincolnway & Pioneer, click image for Google Streetview

I’m torn on this garage. On one hand the execution offends my sense of aesthetics, on the other is blends in better than the other two garages, admittedly I’ve only seen them on Google Streetview.

Is skinning a large structure to appear like multiple structures dishonest?  Absolutely! I could get over that if the execution had active space at the sidewalk level, with space for a Walgreend/CVS, Subway, etc. The ides is right, not look like a massive singular block with horizontal lines. Details do matter though.

— Steve Patterson

 

Apartment Parking Garages: New Vs Retrofit

Apartment projects, by their nature, have a greater density than neighborhoods of detached single-family dwellings. A century ago few parking spaces were needed in apartment projects, but now at least one parking space per unit is expected. Parking garages are often the answer to parking needs in urban areas.  This post will look at two current examples: a new project under construction and a 1950s project adding a garage.

Recent new construction projects like 3949 Lindell have a highly visible attached parking garage, but there’s a better way — placing the garage in the center so the building conceals it.

The Standard now under construction at Forest Park & Vandeventer. The parking garage is built first, the units will wrap around the perimeter to conceal it.
The Standard now under construction at Forest Park & Vandeventer, shown here on 9/3/14. The parking garage is built first, the units will wrap around the perimeter to conceal it.  Click image for stltoday.com story on the project
As seen from Vandeventer on 9/14/14
As seen from Vandeventer on 9/14/14

Lining the perimeter of a parking garage with residential units is a great solution for new construction, but what about existing buildings? With old warehouses, such as my loft, parking is usually placed within the existing building footprint. The same usually doesn’t work for 1950s urban renewal apartments. So what do you do? Plaza Square was an urban renewal project that started with a 1953 bond issue, the six buildings opened in 1962. Only one has underground parking.

Mills Properties is using the name CityView for its Plaza Square buildings
Mills Properties is using the name CityView for at least two of its four Plaza Square buildings
To increase the amount of off-street parking they've built a parking garage between two of their buildings
To increase the amount of off-street parking they’ve built a parking garage between two of their buildings
17th & Chesntnut
The new garage as seen from 17th & Chestnut back in June
The new garage isn't connected to either building
The new garage isn’t connected to either building

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