Colliers Report: Lack of parking hinders Columbia growth

Downtown Parking Conditions

The lack of available parking spaces in Columbia is a deterrent for attracting new office and retail tenants and new development. There are 19 parking garages available to Columbia tenants and visitors and they are 83.86% occupied. There are only 2,039 total garage spaces available scattered throughout downtown Columbia-hardly enough for new development. In addition, customers of Columbia retailers only have 69 out of 985 available surface lot parking spaces available to choose from when shopping downtown. The surface parking lot at Washington and Lincoln Street is now being built upon; therefore, 94 surface parking spaces were lost. Despite efforts by the City of Columbia to install parking meters along the roadways, metered spaces are often full or not located near the desired consumer location. The lack of parking is prohibitive to customers in the region; therefore, they will often choose to shop in other retail areas rather than parking and walking a long distance to stores, or not being able to find an available parking spot.

The minimum price for reserved parking spaces remained $75.00 per month during the second quarter of 2019. In addition to parking garage space, there are 13 public surface parking lots in downtown Columbia, with spaces that may be rented hourly, daily or monthly. The average monthly parking lot space prices range from $40 per month up to $300 for daily meter parking lots, paid on a monthly basis. There are currently a total of 166 parking spaces which may be purchased on a daily or monthly basis within the City of Columbia Passport lots. In addition, there are 133 two-hour-limit parking lot spaces.

Because of the growing number of downtown residents, a retail vacancy rate of 1.66% and the Columbia Central Business District office vacancy at 10.97%, parking demand is high. Despite the City of Columbia offering buses and parking meters to assist with the lack of parking, it is still a deterrent for business owners and developers who wish to provide parking for tenants and customers. The fact remains there are not enough Columbia parking availabilities to accommodate customers, tenants and visitors. Prior to developers considering new downtown Columbia construction, parking issues will need to be resolved.