The Promenade at Howard Hughes - Case Study

The Challenge

In 2015, $30 million was invested to update and upgrade the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center in Los Angeles. The neighborhood where the mall is located has a collection of high-rise office buildings and a growing number of apartments, estimated to have 1.3 million square feet of office space and 3,200 apartments.

The parking facility consists of two properties connected underneath a power structure and has 1300 spaces. The old parking system and equipment at Howard Hughes was past life expectancy and was no longer working properly. In the search for a new parking system, the management aimed to cut overhead costs.

In the old parking system, parkers paid a $3 flat rate on entry to an attendant and upon leaving, swiftly exited through traffic gates without inserting a ticket. With the renovations and development in the area more traffic was anticipated and parkers were not used to paying on exit. The first challenge was to find a solution by which parkers could exit quickly and avoid bottlenecks in exit lanes, especially due to the high volumes of traffic flowing out of the garage at the same time when large events (i.e. movie theatre) clear out, etc.

The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center is a mixed-use entertainment and retail facility, and as such there are a large number of employees on the property. All employees are required to park on level P4 and above (The Nesting Area). There was previously zero compliance with this policy as there was no way to track where an employee parked. Traditionally, nesting areas are sections of the garage blocked off to the general public and access is gained through the use of a key card and gate. As there is no area in the garage that customers cannot access, gate and card readers were not viable options.

The new system would have to take into account:

• An anticipated high volume of parkers
• A requirement for nested areas and monthly parkers without the use of gate and card readers
• Fast exiting to avoid bottlenecks
• A software solution for management and control that would incorporate the nested area solution as well as varied reporting capabilities

The Solutions

Once the project broke ground it was completed in 8 weeks.

AmeriPark began their research at the end of 2013 and considered several companies who could meet the requirements. No other company could meet the needs of the nested area without a gate. TIBA Parking’s expertise in LPR and barcode technology, coupled with its low costs over the life of the equipment, were the main factors in the decision. Tech Control Systems in Los Angeles was awarded the project and commenced with the installation.

Using LPR cameras, a virtual nesting area was implemented. Monthly parkers and employees follow a prescribed route for recognition in the system: Upon entry into the garage, employees are granted access by their license plate and they continue to the fourth level where another set of cameras identify their license plate. Upon exit, they follow the same path: plates are read when leaving the fourth level, and then they are read one final time at the exit to open the exit gates. If a monthly parker does not follow the sequence of in the garage, in the nesting area, out of the nesting area, out of the garage, the machine will trigger the daily rate for them at the exit.

The main goal was to decrease overhead costs. Although the average ticket price is lower now, the facility saves over a quarter million dollars annually in labor costs. With the prior system, the garage employed an average of 6 staff on any given day working over 600+ hours per week. With TIBA’s system, 2 attendants work per day for less than 280 hours per week. Costs are expected to remain minimal because of low maintenance requirements and costs for TIBA equipment.

TIBA's software and LPR allow the capability to exit without the need to collect a ticket by identifying cars that have paid at the pay station by their license plates.

The facility uses SmartPark, TIBA’s management software for management, control and revenue management. Reporting options cover all the needs of the facility with its unique nesting area. SmartPark contains a module for LPR that integrates seamlessly with SmartPark. The software is flexible and has the option to integrate with third party tools. This facility uses CodiPark, a mobile payment app, which also works with LPR.

Results

• The site has 4 entry lanes and 6 exit lanes with an option to pay in lane on exit
• 80% of people pay at pay stations
• The site has two parking operations employees per day down from an average of 6 per day.
• Approximately 10,000 cars enter the parking garage
• Since installing TIBA’s system there is a 97% compliance rate for employees.
• The garage saves over $250,000 per year in labor costs

Product Quantity

• Entry Station/Ticket Dispensers with Proximity Readers and QR Scanner for print-at-home coupons: 4
• Exit Lane Terminals with Proximity Reader: 6
• Card Reader for transients and cardholders: 1
• Card Reader for Nesting Area: 2
• Pay Stations;
• Pay on Foot Station with cash, coin and credit card acceptance: 2
• Credit Card Only Pay Station: 5
• POS Terminal including barcode scanner, cash drawer and customer fee display: 2
• Validation Units: 3
• Central Controller including power supply: 1

About TIBA Parking

TIBA Parking Systems develops and manufactures innovative hardware and cutting edge software for parking access and revenue control systems. With 29 years of experience in barcode technology, design and production, TIBA systems cater to customers from widely diverse industries, and uses modern software tools for easy 3rd Party Integration. TIBA is a global market leader with its’ U.S. base of operations in the Atlanta, GA metro area. TIBA’s extensive dealer network serves the Americas, Europe and Asian markets.