Westfield UTC will finally start charging for parking after 41 years this fall.

The mall will allow shoppers to park for free for two hours but will charge $3 an hour after that. The max daily rate, reached after five hours, will be $15.

Australian-based Westfield said the change is the result of people parking at the mall and not shopping there, leaving fewer spots for actual shoppers.

It said its research showed 85 percent of mall patrons stay fewer than two hours. Cars will receive a ticket when they enter the mall when the program brings this fall. Westfield does not have an exact date yet when ticketing will start.


Shoppers can get vouchers to stay longer at Arclight Cinemas and 24 Hour Fitness, and other businesses may be added.

Further necessitating the need for more parking, Westfield said, was the new trolley station coming to the site that may see people parking at the mall before they hop on mass transit. The blue line extension is expected to be completed by 2021.

Westfield said it has made a number of improvements to parking already, including a new five-level parking structure and technology to help people find parking spots more easily with a system of red and green lights.

In the future, the company said it hopes to add technology to make paying for parking ticketless.


Westfield is using part of its parking lot to construct a 23-story apartment building. It broke ground in September on the $200 million project at the corner of Nobel Drive and Lombard Place.

Westfield announced in December it was in the process of being acquired for nearly $16 billion by French commercial real estate giant Unibail-Rodamco. The shopping center recently completed a $600 million expansion.

The mall was opened by developer Ernest W. Hahn in 1977 and was purchased by Westfield in 1998.


Business

phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar


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