Seeing spots: Park Cedar Rapids says it has plenty of downtown parking spaces

CEDAR RAPIDS — Downtown Cedar Rapids does not have a parking problem.

That might not always appear to be the case, but officials insist it's true.

'The system as a whole has more than enough capacity,' said Jon Rouse, general manager of Park Cedar Rapids.

There are more than 3,600 parking spaces available in city-owned parking lots and garages, and when metered street parking spots are added, Rouse said that number hits about 5,200.

The city of Cedar Rapids turned over management of the downtown parking system to the Cedar Rapids Downtown District in 2011. The city still owns the parking facilities, including garages, surface lots and the on-street metered parking spaces — but the Downtown District sets public policy and provides support to Park Cedar Rapids, which is part of Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Republic Parking and is in charge of daily operations.

Rouse said Park Cedar Rapids has a number of tools it uses to manage capacity at its 10 different parking ramps and surface lots. An important one is demand-based parking — implemented in 2011 — in which visitors pay more to park at ramps that see more use.

Rouse said the Ground Transportation Center parking ramp at First Street SE and Fourth Avenue SE, Third Avenue parking ramp and Fourth Avenue parking ramp are the most in-demand garages, all operating at 80 to 90 percent occupancy. The Convention Center ramp and the South Side ramp have lower demand and are cheaper.

Park Cedar Rapids lots and ramps

'Front-door mentality'

Technology also allows Park Cedar Rapids to identify trends and see averages on how many monthly spots are used any given day to better manage the number of visitors allowed.

'We can see when parkers slow up on any given day and open up those spots to maximize profits,' he said. 'It can be a bit of a guessing game.'

But despite the room, Rouse said Iowans often interpret that there aren't enough spots because they have a 'front-door mentality.'

'You want to see the front door of your destination,' he said.

This is especially true when downtown plays hosts to large-scale events, such as the high school girls state volleyball tournament.

That event, which brought more than 27,500 visitors to the area over four days in 2014, used about 2,600 visitor spots from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — peak parking hours — and about 3,000 spots off-peak, Rouse said.

'We used the entire system,' he said. 'But even during volleyball we had an excess of about 1,000 spaces available.'

DEVELOPMENT

Parking is intricately tied with downtown development. As more businesses come downtown or apartments spring up, additional parking will be needed.

And Rouse said development is something Park Cedar Rapids is watching closely.

Downtown would need an additional 1,500 employees for another parking garage to be needed, Rouse said, adding that he anticipates a new structure will need to be built in three to five years.

'Or we'd have to see several other restaurants coming in that generate a large volume of visitors,' he said.

Park Cedar Rapids also is actively watching the visitor projections at the Cedar Rapids Convention Center and U.S. Cellular Center. More high volume events, such as the Downtown Farmers Market or Fire and Ice, that bring more visitors to the area also could push up the parking needs.

'The parking board looks at (the numbers) on a regular basis,' said Doug Neumann, executive vice president of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, which includes the Downtown District.

And they use those numbers to help set policy to help creating economic development incentives to help entice a business downtown.

Rouse agreed, pointing to a 50 percent discount for half a company's lease when it brings at least 10 new jobs into the area as an example of an effective development tool.

'We're having active, ongoing conversations with developers, and (we) work with property owners,' Rouse said.

Park Cedar Rapids also plans to create additional incentives for developers building residential units downtown.

'Those are very important tools,' Neumann said. Incentives 'have been used a number of times on deals that would have been hard to finish without parking incentives.'