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I read this awesome article today in the ULI magazine we get here at the office. They were talking about how some cities are finding that “un-bundling” parking leads to more affordable housing and better transportation options. By un-bundling they mean building a project with say .8 parking spaces per unit and selling them separate of the units to the people who want them. Often only 60% of residents will buy a space with their home.
What they found is that the total cost of the units were able to decrease by as much as 60,000 each in urban settings. Very cool!
In addition the buyers that choose not to buy the parking spaces and not own a car don’t have the cost of the car. Overall you get a greater mix of incomes in the same project.
They also said that one car share car replaces as many as 14 cars!
I am excited for us as a company to start researching un-bundling as an alternative, we have two projects that are perfect candidates, both are set up as one parking space per unit and would easily allow us to sell the units and the spaces separately.
(update) Seth Godin did a good post on the topic of bundling services that applies well with parking spaces also. It’s interesting: parking spaces or shopping bags. Charge separate and people will begin to notice their use.
Levi
2 responses so far ↓
1 Kalie // Sep 29, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I am so glad that someone is thinking this way. Parking costs us to much and for those of us who choose not to own a car there is often not the option to opt-out. There is also the consideration that someone who wanted to own two spaces could buy two.
2 E // Oct 5, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Have you looked into this with Cities of Sac or West Sac? I’m wondering from the regulatory standpoint how open the agencies are to these kinds of alternative arrangements. It sure beats a parking variance, in my opinion, but you can really rile some people up when you don’t meet the “standard” parking requirements.
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