Denver’s Leading Parking Consultants

Parking Advisors is a national parking consulting firm that has done extensive work in Denver and the surrounding submarkets.

Parking Advisors in The-Mile-High City

The Parking Advisors team has provided parking investment advisory services across the metro-Denver area. We’ve consulted on projects in most of Denver’s major submarkets including the Downtown CBD, LoDo (Lower Downtown), RiNo (River North Arts District), North Capitol Hill and Cherry Creek.

Denver Parking Market Fundamentals

Denver's parking fundamentals are impacted by a number of factors. Our parking analyses include an in-depth analysis of the following drivers:

Office Demand

Denver’s parking demand varies by submarket but is typically dependent on a submarket’s commercial occupancy. During the daytime, it is common for city garages to have high occupancies as a result of office parking and construction workers from nearby developments. Some submarkets have seen slightly lower daytime parking utilization with the expansion of the city’s mass transit system. In general, parking occupancy, rates, and revenue tend to correlate with submarket growth and commercial occupancies.

Denver’s Public Transportation Network

Due to the its growing economy and population, transportation access has become a focal point of Denver’s urban planning initiatives. In recent years, the city has invested significant capital to upgrade the public transit network to unify Metro Denver and connect the city’s neighborhoods and surrounding suburbs at Denver’s historic Union Station. However, since public transit doesn’t adequately serve most suburbs, driving a vehicle is still the main mode of transportation in Denver.

Denver has three main public transit modes:

High-Speed Light Rail

The Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) Light Rail lines provide service to 57 active stations on 60 miles of track.

Commuter Rail

The RTD’s Commuter rail lines provide service to 21 active stations on 53 miles of track.

City Bus Rapid Transit

The RTD has 1,026 buses that provide service to 9,800 active bus stops.

Submarkets & Demand Drivers

Parking Advisors analyzes supply and demand fundamentals to understand the potential risks and upside opportunities for each project we work on. Some of Denver’s primary parking submarkets are detailed below:

LoDo (Lower Downtown) & Union Station

Just northwest of the Denver CBD, the bustling neighborhood of LoDo is home to Union Station. Not only is it home to Union, the neighborhood also has a large number of trendy shopping and dining options. As a result, parking garages located in the area typically see higher night and weekend parking demand than some other Denver neighborhoods.

RiNo (River North Art District)

Bound by I-70 and I-25 to the north and west, RiNo is filled with redeveloped industrial buildings. These building are now commercial office buildings, restaurants, art galleries, and event venues. Commercial projects in the submarket tend to be built with lower parking ratios than other Denver submarkets.

Coors Field

The home of the Colorado Rockies is nestled in between the LoDo and RiNo submarkets. On game nights, these two neighborhoods benefit from parking demand generated by Rockies fans.

Convention Center

Located at the southwest edge of the Denver CBD, the Denver Convention Center, and the surrounding hotels, drive significant parking demand to the submarket during large conferences, as well as for smaller events.

16th Street Pedestrian Mall

The 16th Street Pedestrian Mall stretches over a mile and has over 300 stores, 50 restaurants and the Denver Pavilions shopping mall. The pedestrian mall generates parking demand across many of downtown Denver’s submarkets.

Cherry Creek

A few miles to the southeast of the CBD, the affluent residential suburb of Cherry Creek includes a mix of high-end boutiques and eateries. In January 2020, the Cherry Creek Shopping Center eliminated its 2-hour free parking and started charging $2.00 for the first two hours. This change occurred after the shopping center starting charging for parking over 2-hours in 2017.

Other Relevant Parking Dynamics

Surface Lot Redevelopment – As a result of the city’s growth in recent years, new developments have replaced surface parking lots throughout the city. This influx of commercial and residential development has caused the parking supply to tighten throughout the city.
Parking Aggregators – In recent years, Denver has seen an uptick in the adoption of online parking reservations from the primary parking aggregators; however, the market for online sales is still relatively immature. It is likely that an increasing amount of demand will be generated from these sites in the coming years as their presence throughout the city expands, especially given the young, innovative and technologically literate demographic that continues to grow. Of the three main aggregators, two charge significant commissions and could have a noticeable negative impact on the value of parking facilities in the future.
Parking Taxes – There are no parking taxes or other sales taxes that impact parking revenues in Denver.