Entire level of DC USA garage has never been used

Parking

Entire level of DC USA garage has never been used

by David Alpert • May 29, 2008 10:00 am

Councilmember Jim Graham is rightly very proud of bringing Target and other stores to Columbia Heights, giving residents places to shop and jobs. And many of them are taking Metro. Graham emailed community lists to report that Metro ridership at the Columbia Heights station is up 24% on weekdays and 39% on weekends since the stores opened.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr.

And the garage is going mostly empty. That's good news for public transit, since the robust number of shoppers must not be all driving. But DC is still paying for it. According to Graham, the 1,015-space garage averages 250 cars with a peak of 350-400 cars. "In fact, the second level has not been used to date."

Next time we build a project next to Metro, let's remember that retailers may ask for more parking than we need. Overbuilding parking encourages some driving trips that could be transit trips, and costs taxpayers around $2.8 million a year just to pat ourselves on the back that we aren't using the garage.

And there's still not enough bike parking.

12 comments

Tags: bike parking, Columbia Heights, DC, DC USA, excessive parking, Jim Graham, WMATA

DC USA: SmartBike yes (eventually), racks in garage no (Aug 25, 2008)
Is the 1,000 space garage in Columbia Heights a good investment? (Feb 21, 2008)
Now there's really too much parking at DC USA (Apr 27, 2009)
DC USA garage still mostly empty (May 19, 2008)
DC USA garage to offer daily and monthly parking (Feb 3, 2010)

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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So, what can we do with all that unused parking?

Roller hockey tournaments? Indoor skatepark?

I'm only half joking.

by Alex B. on May 29, 2008 10:06 am • link • report

Take a dozen spaces and place bike racks.

And encourage something huge next door so maybe some parking will get used.

I bet metro could have used the 2.8 million extra to improve service on the 14th street buses (I rode one on Friday night after 7 PM, pretty darn full). Although the headways are pretty close together, which is nice. An express option (stopping every block is a drag).

by Kiran on May 29, 2008 10:47 am • link • report

I shopped at the new Harris Teeter next to the Potomac Avenue Metro Station for the first time last night. Great store but absolutely no place, not even a sign post, to lock up a bike. Of course, it has tons of parking for cars. Grrrr......

by rg on May 29, 2008 11:04 am • link • report

Alex: Good idea. Hmm... how about ice skating in winter, mini golf in summer?

by David Alpert on May 29, 2008 11:16 am • link • report

Retailers may ask for (much) more parking than they really need. But they also may not come if the parking isn't provided.

by Adam on May 29, 2008 1:10 pm • link • report

"Retailers may ask for (much) more parking than they really need. But they also may not come if the parking isn't provided."

Well then, F** Them. We're a world class city and we need to start acting like it, I'm sicking of being pushed around by the MLB and Targets of the world

by DC on May 29, 2008 3:29 pm • link • report

This could be extra parking for zoo tourists who can take the H2-4 to Cleve. Park, or take the "mini" bus to Woodley; or take the green line to a transfer station to the red.

I wish the zoo vistors from MD & VA would get on the metro in Vienna or Gaithersburg.

I really like the ideas of indoor/covered bike parking and rec. uses for the space.

by Bianchi on May 29, 2008 4:02 pm • link • report

I have to confess that I live right there, have been inside a few dozen times, and don't even know where the parking is. At least it's off street, or somewhere out of the way.

by Dave Meyer on May 29, 2008 6:44 pm • link • report

RG,

There's bike parking at the HT on the Hill, you just missed it. It's just to the left of the store entrance into the parking garage. Room for several bikes. Good luck!

by Grant on May 30, 2008 3:32 pm • link • report

I know I'm late to the party in commenting, but I just found this thread.

I live three blocks from there and thankfully have no idea where the parking is, either.

However, if it's an entire level that can, at least for now, safely be kept empty, I don't see why it can't be turned into some sort of artist space. We don't have enough galleries or affordable studio space in this city right now, nor a lively enough art scene. If this were turned into an installation space, it would be spacious enough for particularly large pieces (as long as they aren't particularly tall pieces, anyway), which would fill an unmet need. It could also be transformed into studio spaces for artists, as it would be pretty easy to partition off, and a low-rent studio really just needs to be open and blank anyway.

If it were turned into a skate park or something similar, I think they ought to allow some graffiti artists free reign in there to make it more colorful and less gray and boring. The Latin American Youth Center is offering up free graffiti art for any property owner who wants them to come by, so I bet those kids would have a field day. And if it's painted by neighborhood kids, it's going to be less likely to be defaced.

by Melissa on Jun 24, 2008 10:18 am • link • report

It is inaccurate to say the lower level has never been used. We parked there once. It was awesome. Too many cars were being slow and stupid on the upper level, so from the entrance we took the ramp down a level and had it almost completely to ourselves. Of course that was only once and they've closed the ramp off with cones since then, but it was indeed used.

That said, even the upper level of parking is pretty under-utilized. We tend to pop in on our way back from car trips elsewhere and we invariably get a space within 20 or 30 feet of the elevator lobby.

by fedward on Jul 4, 2008 2:16 pm • link • report

Just saw the article about this in the Post! I heartily agree with Kiran, about putting extensive bicycle parking inside of the garage. The racks outside are insufficient, and are a like an all-you-can-take buffet for bicycle thieves. It would be best to have them near a guard or at least have a security camera on them. But even if that is not possible, just putting them in the garage should cut down on thefts.

Also, how about renting out some of those spaces for overnight parking? I know that the city recently changed the parking zoning in many neighborhoods, making it difficult for guests and others without permits to park on the street without getting ticketed. (Even on Saturday). Or, more traditionally, a monthly rental?

by Julia on Oct 8, 2009 8:36 am • link • report