Desiree Stennett | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Downtown Memphis is for drivers — at least for now.

That's according to the findings of a year-long parking study ordered by the Downtown Memphis Commission, said Iain Banks of Nelson\Nygaard, the California-based company that conducted the study.

"There is certainly a car culture within Downtown Memphis," Banks said in a 90-minute presentation to the DMC board Thursday morning. "And that is in part due to, obviously, historical preferences but also the fact that the transit system and overall mobility probably isn't quite where the city would really like it to be right now."

The study looked at parking between A.W. Willis Avenue and E. H. Crump Boulevard and from the riverfront to Interstate 69 at the outer edge of the Medical District.

About 83% of Downtown workers who responded to a parking survey said they drive to work alone every day, while only 7% said they carpooled. Among Downtown residents, the number was only slightly lower. About 69% said they drive alone through Downtown.

For those drivers, parking can often feel scarce and expensive, the study showed. But that's just the perception, Banks said.

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In reality, drivers reported they can usually find a spot after looking for about five minutes and said that spot is usually within two blocks of their destination.

Brandon Dill

20,000 extra spaces

There are 71,364 parking spaces in Downtown Memphis and the Medical District, Banks' study found.

Despite perceptions of low parking inventory, Banks found only about 50,000 of those spaces are needed to meet the demand for parking. And even if development in Memphis continued to boom at the pace of cities like Nashville and Austin, in 20 years Memphis would still be able to meet the demand with about 5,000 fewer spaces than the ones that exist today.

In the Downtown core, the overage in available parking spaces versus the demand for parking is most apparent. There are 17,065 parking spaces available Downtown, but the immediate growth happening Downtown only calls for about 8,600 spaces, the study found.

Despite the overage of parking, members of the DMC board were hesitant to agree that spaces should disappear.

"How do you figure out how many people come Downtown for business meetings, how many people come Downtown to meet someone for lunch, then actually have to go back out east because that's where they live or work?" DMC board member Julie Ellis asked.

Meaghan McDermott

She said it makes sense to attempt to reduce the need for parking for Downtown residents who also work there by making the city more pedestrian-friendly and bettering public transportation. But she said reducing parking too much could alienate East Memphis dwellers.

"What I never want to hear is that being Downtown feels exclusive to anyone who does not live or work Downtown," Ellis said. "That is not Memphis. I'm worried about that in a broader context."

Banks, however, said change could take years — but even if only 10% of Downtowners decided to use their cars less frequently, that would mean fewer spaces would be necessary and more of what is available could be used by people from East Memphis and others traveling into Downtown.

Fewer surface lots, more technology

Sister boards of the DMC have already committed to adding thousands more parking spaces despite Downtown's density.

Part of the incentives package approved for the $950 million Union Row development that plans to bring apartments, a hotel, office space and more retail — including a grocery store — to Downtown was a $50 million loan to build two parking garages that would add about 2,000 spaces.

Daniel Connolly, The Commercial Appeal

Banks said adding more garages is not necessarily a bad thing if it means closing surface lots and using prime Downtown real estate for more development.

"Perhaps a garage does make sense in some locations where it opens three to four to five blocks of development and it can serve as a shared parking usage for those developments," he said.

DMC President Jennifer Oswalt said the parking study is already being used to help her organization determine how to allocate limited parking funds for other developments.

"What this did for us was show that the immediate growth is not a crisis," Oswalt said. "It did show that we are not completely safe from challenges but we're also not in crisis ... We can try to change little behaviors."

Those efforts to change behaviors are apparent in another kind of incentive approved in late 2018 to encourage alternative forms of commuting for the 700 new employees that agricultural tech company Indigo Ag plans to hire in the next three years.

The DMC has also committed to aiding with parking solutions for AutoZone, which recently announced a Downtown expansion that will lead to 130 new jobs. No details have been released about what the DMC will offer and how much it will impact the existing parking landscape.

Desiree Stennett/Commercial Appeal

Preliminary findings released with the study suggested that technology could be a solution to negative parking perceptions. Banks said using apps or other technology to help Downtown visitors determine the location and cost of parking before they ever leave their homes could be helpful.

He also suggested that improvements to public transportation, better maintaining parking garages, working with companies to make more private parking available to the public and making the Downtown area more pedestrian-friendly could all help change the habits of those visiting Downtown and reduce the need for parking.

A final list of recommendations and a guide to help the DMC make parking development decisions will be issued in the coming weeks, Banks said.