Florida’s largest office markets may not have the most expensive parking in the US, but it sure seems that way sometimes. A new report by Colliers International puts the daily median rate here at $15 and up, except Jacksonville where it’s just under $9.
There are more variables in the monthly rates, which range from $53 in Fort Lauderdale (third least-expensive market nationwide) to $133 in Tampa. Colliers measured the monthly median in Miami at $134.12, though some office landlords question that figure.
It’s hard to say, even for building owners, why Florida’s urban parking rates are set where they are. Some cite the need to pay off long-term debt needed to build garages in the first place, while others call them an important revenue generator, especially against falling rents.
Other major markets in the Southeast, such as Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville, charge less for parking than Florida cities at $12 per day, with monthly parking ranging between $90 and $125. However, office owners advise looking at the bigger picture.
“On a national scale, we are relatively cheap,” says Tom Kates, president of Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp., which owns numerous office towers statewide. He points to Boston, where parking runs $34 daily and $402.50 monthly, and Midtown Manhattan, the nation’s most expensive at $44 daily and $550 monthly, based on Colliers’ numbers.
Ross Moore, Colliers executive vice president and director of market and economic research in Boston, says this year’s survey results show how resilient parking is despite tough market conditions. The company has tracked parking for the past nine years.
“We have historically observed a direct link between the health of the office market and monthly parking, and the health of the consumer economy and daily parking,” Moore says. “In the face of such challenges, parking rates nationwide have basically held steady, in many cases posting increases. Is parking immune to swings in the general economy? Watching rates as the next year unfolds may certainly speak volumes.”
In a somewhat related note, the garage at Publix’s GreenWise supermarket west of Downtown Tampa earned top honors from the International Parking Institute for contractor R.R. Simmons. Parking there is free.
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