In the Spotlight: Addressing the Dilemma of Tenant Parking

Dedicated parking spaces appurtenant to office leases, especially covered spaces, are a prized commodity, particularly in suburban markets where virtually all of a tenant's employees drive to work. A tenant may be able to negotiate an arrangement where it receives more parking passes than the actual number of cars it is permitted to park at the premises at any given time under the theory that not all employees with a parking pass will actually show up for work on any given day. The problem presented by this approach is, of course, the one day when every driver with a parking pass shows up for work and there is no room for all of their cars.

One creative way to get around this problem may be to negotiate an arrangement where a tenant is given more parking passes than its allotment of parking spaces, but required to park any excess vehicles in tandem spaces. Most commuters (and, by extension, tenant real estate representatives who have to listen to the complaints) despise tandem parking spaces because of their lack of convenience and flexibility. Landlords are generally not particularly enamored of the tandem spaces either, given the hassle involved with enforcing tandem parking rules and the tight lot/garage layouts required for tandem spaces. In this situation, one solution is to allot a dedicated tandem parking area for the tenant's overflow parkers that the tenant is required to police. This allows the tenant the flexibility of dealing with its overflow parking, including possibilities such as valet parking and/or assigning the less desirable spaces to designated employees, and frees the landlord from the hassle of dealing with the logistics of tandem parking. It also allows the landlord to offer more parking options to attract potential tenants than the traditional X number of spaces per rentable square foot method.

Dedicated parking spaces appurtenant to office leases, especially covered spaces, are a prized commodity, particularly in suburban markets where virtually all of a tenant's employees drive to work. A tenant may be able to negotiate an arrangement where it receives more parking passes than the actual number of cars it is permitted to park at the premises at any given time under the theory that not all employees with a parking pass will actually show up for work on any given day. The problem presented by this approach is, of course, the one day when every driver with a parking pass shows up for work and there is no room for all of their cars.

One creative way to get around this problem may be to negotiate an arrangement where a tenant is given more parking passes than its allotment of parking spaces, but required to park any excess vehicles in tandem spaces. Most commuters (and, by extension, tenant real estate representatives who have to listen to the complaints) despise tandem parking spaces because of their lack of convenience and flexibility. Landlords are generally not particularly enamored of the tandem spaces either, given the hassle involved with enforcing tandem parking rules and the tight lot/garage layouts required for tandem spaces. In this situation, one solution is to allot a dedicated tandem parking area for the tenant's overflow parkers that the tenant is required to police. This allows the tenant the flexibility of dealing with its overflow parking, including possibilities such as valet parking and/or assigning the less desirable spaces to designated employees, and frees the landlord from the hassle of dealing with the logistics of tandem parking. It also allows the landlord to offer more parking options to attract potential tenants than the traditional X number of spaces per rentable square foot method.