One month later, garage still empty

More than a month after the grand opening of College Park's new $9.3 million downtown parking garage, few of its parking spaces are finding customers. But city officials and business owners are calling for patience, saying it will take time for people to get used to the idea.

Yesterday afternoon, there were 10 cars on the garage's lowest floor and a slightly larger cluster near the top, where most cars displayed permits for city employees or long-term parking.

The rest of the five-story structure was empty.

Stephen Groh, the city's director of finance, reported an average of 20 cars use the 288-space garage at any given time, not counting monthly permit holders and city employees.

Just across Route 1, meanwhile, the parking lot at the College Park Shopping Center continues to be full.

"I didn't even know there was a garage," said one student as she walked to her car near Starbucks in the parking lot, within sight of the new building and its banner reading "Parking garage now open!!!"

Scott Osborn, a city parking enforcement supervisor, said as he emptied parking meters in front of CVS that he hadn't noticed any significant decrease in usage of the shopping center lot since the garage opened. Groh said the city's numbers support that observation.

"Perhaps people just assume before going in [the garage] that it will cost much, much more than coming over here," Osborn said.

The garage on Knox Road charges the same rate, 75 cents an hour, as parking meters in the shopping center lot and elsewhere in the city, but there are no time restrictions in the garage and users there can pay with paper money or credit cards. Parking there is free overnight — 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. — and on Sundays and holidays.

But some students said, regardless, they just don't like the idea of parking farther away.
Family sciences major Jessica Jacobs said she'd sooner circle the crowded shopping center lot to find a spot than cross Route 1 to the garage.

"I'm a senior, so I'm used to parking over here," Jacobs said. "I just forget [the garage is] there."

Nearby parking lots, including the lot at the College Park Shopping Center, haven't seen any lessening in parking congestion since the garage opened, Groh wrote in an e-mail.

"People with cars have traditions and habits," said John Brown, owner of R.J. Bentley's and a board member of the Downtown College Park Management Authority. "It will take them a while to realize, ‘Oh, I can park across the street, and it's not that far.'"

Brown agreed with city officials, who said it was too early to judge any success or failure of the garage, with or without hard numbers.

College Park Public Services Director Bob Ryan said he'd like to see the garage's usage after a full month of student use, but Brown's first signpost will be the Terps' first home football game Saturday. 

"We'll get our football fans back in town, and they'll say, ‘Hey, this pretty convenient,'" Brown said, adding they will be drawn back to College Park again in the future.

However, as officials had hoped, the city has issued fewer parking tickets since the garage opened last month. Groh attributed the decrease to the garage's "additional payment options on the pay stations and availability of longer term parking."

Officials also expect the garage to get a significant boost when the original Ledo Restaurant opens on the building's ground floor next spring or summer. They expect the business to be popular, especially with its new convenient parking.

The College Park City Council approved a lease agreement Tuesday to bring the venerable pizza restaurant from its current location on University Boulevard in Adelphi.

bholt@umdbk.com