The city of Des Moines, IA, owns an excess of parking in its downtown area. A couple of major tenants are moving to new digs and a three quarters of a million square feet is about to be vacant. The city is working with the building owners to give new tenants attractive (read that free) parking rates in its garages. Everyone wins – city fills garages, new tenants move downtown, taxes are paid, employees are hired. All is right with the world. You can read about it here
This technique is nothing new. Many times leasing agents will use parking as a “loss leader” providing so many low price or free spaces to entice companies to lease space. However this is usually for only part of the lease, say for two years of a five year lease. My only comment is that, according to the article, the city is offering free parking for seven years. They might have been better off if they had someone from the parking industry negotiate the deal. Seven years seems a bit heavy to me.
JVH
