Parking garage keeps losing money; rates to increase
By Kathryn Reed
Owning the parking garage at Heavenly Village continues to be a financial quagmire for South Lake Tahoe.
The albatross will be on the books until at least December 2012. Based on how the bonds are structured, the city cannot attempt to unload the concrete facility until then.
It will cost more to park at Heavenly Village in January.
The 425-space garage is 50-60 percent empty most of the time. Projections are for another year of losing money — about $140,000 this fiscal year. It costs $1.3 million a year to operate the garage and pay the debt on the 7-year-old facility.
Raising rates is the prime way to increase cash flow. That will happen Jan. 15.
The City Council this month approved going from 30-minute increments to 20 minute. It now costs $1.75 per half hour and next month it will be $1.25 every 20 minutes. This is an increase of 25 cents an hour.
The daily rate will go from $23 to $25.
Winter is the busiest time of year for the garage because skiers and boarders park there to access the gondola to ride to the top of Heavenly Mountain Resort.
Blaise Carrig, chief operating officer for the resort, was at the council meeting to see what would be approved and how it might affect his guests. The bulk of Heavenly’s riders access the mountain via the gondola, though many of them walk from the surrounding hotels.
Carrig and Gene Palazzo, who oversees the Parking Authority and Redevelopment Agency for the city, have talked in the past about creating a lift ticket-parking package. Nothing has come of those discussions.
“We see the fee being nominal, but during the current economic climate we would like to see prices remain steady for guests,” Russ Pecoraro, Heavenly spokesman, said.
Palazzo had recommended the four-hour validation for the movie theater be reduced to three. In 2007 the council boosted it to four hours from 2.5 hours. The council this month chose to leave it at four hours.
Jerry Bindel, who is on the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority board and president of the South Lake Tahoe Lodging Association, has suggested to the city that it have a couple free days of parking a year for locals in an attempt to drive traffic to Heavenly Village. The city isn’t biting on that suggestion.
Locals tend to park at Harrah’s for free and walk over to the village.
One moneymaker for the city is selling advertising space in the garage to merchants in Heavenly Village.
Becoming automated has also cut costs — and it eliminated jobs, too.
The city got stuck with the garage when the developer of the entire project backed out of building it. This forced the city to meet parking demand and infuse another $6 million into the redevelopment area.
This is on top of the $7.2 million that was “borrowed” from the general fund to build the center. The Redevelopment Agency is paying back that money in $500,000 increments each year.
Raising the rates on the parking garage is a sure way sinking the whole project. Heavenly village is hurting for business so there solution is to make it even harder to shop there. I will wave on my way to carson city to do my shopping where there is acres of free parking and the prices are 20 to 30 percent lower. Any one who has a shop at the village should look for a way out now.
Kathy Lovell to Jerry Birdwell. “Business is down at the Heavenly Village and the parking garage is another loser. What can we do?” Birdwell, “Raise parking fees, then people will shop somewhere else for sure.” Lovell, “Can we eliminate the validation program too?”
Raise the price on Saturday and Sunday when the well-to-do tourists are in town and locals stay away from the crowds. Lower the price all other days for locals. Make the shopping validation applicable to local IDs and take it away from everyone else.
Marriott-like guests paying $225 plus per night can afford it, the time-share folks, and rental home folks can afford it and and certainly Heavenly guests paying $82.00 for a lift ticket can afford it. These Mercedes SUV driving skiers will pay anything to only walk 20 yeards versus taking public transportation. If other guests staying elsewhere want lower cost parking, they should take Blue-GO or a cab. Or, do what us locals do and valet park your car at the casinos and walk over.
Finally, not sure what the big deal for locals is in the village, there are hardly any shops left; they have all moved next door to the Raley’s center or shut down. All that is left is high-priced sports shops and tourist-centric eating places. Hell, there even isn’t a ski bar worth two cents there.
Great idea on the parking garage georgie! Up the fee to $30 starting Fri night and continue thru Sun. And on all holidays. Also do the package deal with Heavenly. Heavenly wants $82 to ski, the city wants $25 to park, $107 total, make it an even $100 with Heavenly taking $78 and the city $22.
What about the highly-paid city consultant who told the council some years ago even if Highway 50 was closed, the worst that the parking garage would do would be to break even. Can the taxpayers get a refund on this incorrect advice?
There is free parking right next door at Harrahs and across the street at Harvey’s and the Horizon — and those lots are hopping. Do you think those people are really in the casinos gambling?
People in government just never seem to get it. Raise the prices and business WILL drop. The first season of the gondola I used to park there sometimes because it was reasonably priced. Not anymore.
What if every person got a free 24 hour (or?) pass for Blue Go that parked there?
Hello! LOWER the prices until the garage is full. Once you find the price that attracts cars, you will know what to charge. As for the “rich” tourists, they already are getting stuck with higher prices. Have you bought food lately at the ski resort? The ski resorts suffers from the same backwards thinking as the City. They need to LOWER their food prices to have the profits go UP. Every skier is wise to the price gouging for parking and for food.
Example:
Yesterday, I broke down and bought three burgers, three fries, and three sodas at the base lodge = $57.00
From now on, we’ll drive to KFC or McD or Taco Bell and feed three for $15.00
No, No, let’s hire a consultant and they will tell us what to do. And we will do it. SLT City leadership void.