Ghassan Bishara, P.E., has been promoted to Vice President of Desman Inc., and will be Head of Operations in its Virginia office. Since joining the firm in 1990, he has extensive experience in field investigation, testing, and restoration of deteriorated parking and plaza structures.
The Harman Group (THG), which specializes in structural engineering, parking planning, and design and construction engineering, has announced that One Riverside, a $90 million, 82-unit condominium complex in Philadelphia, celebrated its topping-off milestone on May 25. Standing 22 stories tall, it is the first ground-up luxury high-rise condominium constructed in Philadelphia since the real estate downturn in 2007. THG provided structural engineering and parking consulting services. One Riverside was designed in conjunction with Cecil Baker + Partners Architects and developed by Dranoff Properties.
The 663-space underground parking garage in Katwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands – built between its boulevard and dike – has been named the Best Dutch Building of the Year 2016 by the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects. The integrated design by Royal HaskoningDHV was selected from 125 submissions. Commissioned by the Municipality of Katwijk, a team of architects, engineers and contract specialists from the firm managed its architectural design, specialist advice and contract. A “Dike-in-Dune” reinforcement plan was designed to offer safety from the sea and extra parking facilities, while retaining a high level of spatial quality.
SP Plus Corp. (SP+) has become the first commercial parking operator to be certified by the International Parking Institute (IPI) as an accredited parking organization (APO). The company was recognized at the 2016 IPI Conference & Expo last month in Nashville. Roamy Valera, Senior Vice President of Municipal and Institutional Services, and Casey Jones, Vice President of Institutional Services, accepted the official APO recognition on the company’s behalf.
Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, governing body of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, plans to spend as much as $925,000 to erect a sun and inclement weather shelter in its East Terminal parking lot. Commissioners picked Dallas-based USA Shade & Fabric Structures of Sarasota as its top choice to design and build the covered parking project, the Bradenton Herald reported. “Designed to cover up to 400 vehicles, the free-standing roofing would become a primary parking area for airport valets.”
The Audi factory in Ingolstadt, Germany, has a 5,000-space parking lot. A system was needed that would not only optimize use of the spaces and alleviate congestion, but also help employees not waste time looking for parking. A guidance system proposed by Urbiotica was based on the installation of 22 wireless parking capacity sensors to detect vehicles entering and leaving each sector to communicate the number of free spaces. The guided parking solution was jointly implemented with MSR-Traffic.
Inrix Inc., the global leader in dynamic connected car services and intelligent movement, and Parkmobile, the leading provider of on-demand and prepaid mobile payments for on- and off- street parking and mobility solutions, have announced a strategy to jointly develop an embedded, end-to-end parking solution for the auto industry. The partnership is designed to bring together parking availability, reservations and payments into a seamless in-car navigation experience.
Apriva has completed EMV certification with global payments for the Globalcom Engineering BV1000 device connecting through the Apriva Gateway. This certification allows vendors to provide more secure payment options to customers in unattended retail environments, such as self-service parking. It spans all major card brands, enabling the use of EMV chip card technology. The units are ruggedized for use outdoors and designed to withstand extreme weather conditions.
Barron Lighting Group recently appointed Virginia Lighting Associates as its new rep for Central Virginia. Based in Richmond, the lighting manufacturer’s representative is a partner with design, distribution and contracting in all facets of the construction market and offers lighting design, consultation and energy analysis services as well.
Carl Walker Inc., a nationally recognized consultant in the parking industry, recently announced several promotions: Patrick Martin, P.E., to Senior Vice President, Restoration; Bill Mahler, AIA, to Principal in the Chicago office; Andrew Kong, P.E., to Senior Project Manager in the Charlotte office; and Greg Ehmke, P.E., to Project Manager for New Parking Design. Also, Dan Elliott, P.E., and Troy Testerman, P.E., were promoted to Project Managers for the Restoration Service Sector. Matt Blankenberger and Josh Perry were promoted to Design Engineer II. And Laura Culver, previously Business Development Coordinator, has been promoted to Marketing Manager.
Global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will has announced that NelsonNygaard, an internationally acclaimed transportation planning consultancy, has joined the organization. The strategic partnership will enable both companies to expand and diversify their worldwide mobility service offerings, providing a comprehensive package that includes everything from strategic master planning for cities and sites to architectural, interior, urban, and landscape design.
Genetec Inc. has announced the latest update of its AutoVu Managed Services (AMS), a turnkey ALPR solution that allows parking customers to outsource their IT hardware and management requirements to the company. AMS leverages “the cloud” to offer users independence from on-premises storage, IT management and depreciation costs. It also can now accommodate larger fleets of patrol vehicles with support for fixed LPR cameras. The solution is offered as part of the company’s unified IP security platform.
Four U.S.-based Designa Partners visited corporate headquarters in Kiel, Germany, to gain an overview of production activities and work processes. CSO Stefan Koch informed them of the latest developments, innovation and trends in the industry. He then accompanied them to the 7th Designa Partner Workshop, April 2-4, in Amsterdam. Attending Partner Tim Breuning, President of Light & Breuning Inc., headquartered in Indiana, said, “The conference … was an excellent opportunity to affirm our confidence in the technological leadership evident in the product line… We shared our knowledge with system integrators from six continents evidencing global resources going forward.”
Andy Nguyen has joined R.A. Smith National at its offices in Irvine, CA, as a Civil Engineer in the Land Development Division. He brings his experience with small-site retail and large-scale commercial projects to the firm. His responsibilities have included site plans, hydrology reports, utility and grading plans, and stormwater solutions, as well as project coordination and task management.
Sentry, a subsidiary of Skidata AG, has launched the parking industry’s first fully automated gateless off-street dynamic pricing solution with integrated variable message signage. The suite utilizes the Frogparking management platform to monitor occupancy and automatically adjust parking rates for remaining spaces. It also lets parking operators, municipalities and private parking owners maximize their parking revenues, while remaining price-competitive.
Truck Parking Europe (TPE) has teamed with TomTom International, a global leader in navigation and mapping products, to make its popular app available for TomTom PRO 8 and BRIDGE driver terminals. Truck drivers are always balancing the need to comply with resting period legislation and knowing when and where to take their breaks in the safest, most comfortable way. By bringing together the TPE app showing where all truck parking spots are and TomTom’s Remaining Driving Time app reminding drivers when the next stop is due, it offers what they need for safe driving and parking all in one unit.
In honor of Earth Day, April 22, Klever Logic introduced a ticketless valet module (TVM) for its Flash Valet app solution. The TVM lets parking operators offer their customers the option of replacing paper tickets with SMS texting ticketing. Valet personnel are able to issue tickets via text from the app. Instead of a paper ticket, parking guests enter their mobile number into the app and, shortly thereafter, receive a text with ticket number and instructions for retrieving their vehicle on departure.
