New garages ease holiday parking pains at Woodlands Mall

Cars circled the top of the parking garage searching for a vacant spot. It was lunchtime on the Tuesday before Christmas at The Woodlands Mall and, in spite of the digital sign in front of the recently completed, three-story garage advertising 31 open spaces, the only ones available were those that had just been vacated.

The Woodlands Mall completed two new parking garages, one by Forever 21 and the other by Dillard's, this fall, adding 300 parking spaces to the commercial attraction in time for the busy holiday shopping season. With the addition of Dick's Sporting Goods, the mall had to increase the parking capacity to over 5,700 in order to accommodate the additional retail space, according to Gene Satern, general manager of the mall.

The parking garages are outfitted with technology that displays the number of available spaces. The mall also advertises its mobile app, the GGP Malls App, which helps users find a parking spot and remember where they parked later.

Mall shoppers seem to be pleased with the addition of the parking garages, which some found to be more convenient than the previous surface parking options.

"It makes a huge difference," said Sarah McDowell, who parked in the garage Tuesday afternoon. "It's closer … before you basically had to hike."

"We didn't have any problem," said Angelina Whittenburg, another shopper who said it only took her five minutes to find a spot. "(The parking garage is) a really great idea."

"I've been here many times (in the past) and not been able to park," said Mike Papadimitriou, who was visiting the Mall with his family. "Today, we pulled right in."

Still, others don't see the garage as making much of a difference.

"It's about equal," said Jerry Nails. "It took us a little while to find a spot at the top."

Regardless of the satisfaction with parking, the crowded lots and long lines are a good sign for the retailers at the mall, according to Satern.

"The Woodlands Mall is having another good year," Satern said. "Based on our traffic, it should be a solid holiday season."