Columbus apartments automate parking and boost revenue with Parkade

The Challenge

Though Thrive aimed to cater to a luxury audience with parking perks like assigned parking, covered parking and EV charging, the relentless task of organizing and maintaining their parking soon became overwhelming. Even devoting a full-time employee to oversee parking at Jeffrey Park didn’t solve the issue, and was very expensive.

“At Jeffrey Park, when we inherited the property, the parking was just a disaster,” remembers Erica MacDonald, the Director of Community Management at Thrive.

“The biggest issue was the amount of time that our staff was spending on parking-related requests.” 

Staff at both properties were devoting multiple hours a day to parking management, and sometimes more, if an issue got out of hand. Even creating a parking spreadsheet, as most multi-family property managers end up doing, didn’t solve the problem — especially as parking fees had to be individually added to Entrata, their property management system. 

Things like outdated parking records, minor parking disputes between residents and errant parking by vendors often led to unauthorized parking in residents’ assigned spots. That inevitably set off a domino effect, as residents would steal other residents’ assigned spots when they found theirs taken. Both residents and management understandably grew frustrated with the parking experience. 

With their hands already full managing the existing parking system, Thrive was also unable to offer any short-term parking options for residents and their guests. Parking a guest, even for a couple of hours, required time that the onsite team just didn’t have to spare.  

“There was just no world where we were doing short-term parking by the hour because there was just no way to manage that,” said MacDonald.

The result? Guests often illegally parked in an empty spot, setting off the “domino effect” of unauthorized parking once again. 

By not offering viable short-term parking options at Jeffrey Park and Founders, Thrive wasn’t only missing out on the opportunity to provide a better experience to residents and their guests. They were also missing out on the opportunity to generate additional parking revenue.

Recognizing that managing their parking manually was unsustainable and leaving money on the table, the leaders at Thrive sought out a better solution.

That’s when they found Parkade. 

The Solution

In addition to automating day-to-day parking management, Parkade’s official launch at Jeffrey Park in May 2022 and Founders in June 2022 finally enabled the properties to offer short-term parking options for residents and guests and tap into a brand-new revenue stream.

With Parkade, residents could now book short and long-term parking, sublease their spots to other residents and guests, register their vehicle information and report parking problems — all within the app. They soon realized how easy Parkade was to use, and word spread quickly. 

“For the communities, the big thing is their ability to rent out their space, and have those short-term parking options. [Now] they have the ability to do that and it’s super simple. If they have a guest coming in, to give them parking and not having to worry about whether or not they’re able to find street parking,” MacDonald shared.  

Parkade’s dynamic, app-based approach made it a smooth transition, and over the next year, management saw short-term parking reservations (and parking revenue) continue to climb.  

Short-term reservations at Jeffrey Park

The Results

When Thrive found Parkade, they were looking for a solution that would help their staff manage parking, provide a better parking experience to residents and increase parking revenue. Yet Parkade has delivered even more than they had hoped for. And both staff and residents saw the improvement almost immediately. 

“We don’t have to think about parking anymore!” says MacDonald. 

By automating the day-to-day parking operations, staff at Jeffrey Park and Founders are thrilled to be spending less time on parking. Just how much less? Thanks to Parkade, Jeffrey Park was able to totally reassign the employee they had overseeing parking full-time and save $60,000/year in the process. 

“My staff spends 90% less time on parking!” she adds. 

And not just in areas they expected. 

“It sounds kind of silly, but adopting Parkade has even cut down on time touring with prospective residents, because we don’t have to go over so many different parking options.”   

For staff, Parkade also provides a reliable database of up-to-date parking assignments and vehicle information. Now, they’re able to get ahead of the “domino effect” of unauthorized parking before it even starts.

Residents have the ability to report issues directly in the app, and the Parkade team provides 24/7 support to monitor and enforce parking violations. 

“It's reduced the number of towing incidents and people are engaging with parking on the property more appropriately,” says MacDonald. 

With the switch to Parkade, Thrive has also seen a major boost in parking revenue at both properties. Monthly parking revenue at Jeffrey Park has increased 17% (more than $6,800) since launching Parkade, while Founders’ monthly parking revenue is up more than 30% — a massive $11,400 increase — since reaching stabilized occupancy in January 2023.* And that’s after fees.

Parking revenue (after fees) at Founders

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By introducing short-term parking options at Jeffrey Park and Founders, Parkade has introduced a brand-new revenue stream. The properties are now bringing in more than $2,500/month and $3,000/month respectively from short-term parking alone — all without adding staff work. Now, while residents enjoy the ability to confidently book short-term parking for their guests through the app, Jeffrey Park and Founders are collecting additional revenue that was previously being left on the table. It’s a win-win. 

“The short-term reservations are providing a kind of income that we weren't able to take in before Parkade,” MacDonald admits.

Parkade offers a practical mix of fixed- and flexible-term parking leases, with higher prices on flexible terms, and prices parking spots smarter. For example, now Founders is able to offer more than a dozen different price points (compared to just 2-3 before Parkade) that take into account distance from the gate, proximity to the elevator, covered and uncovered parking, spot size and more, giving residents a better parking experience all while boosting revenue.

“All property managers should try Parkade.”