A proposal for private garages at
Centennial Airport targets those who own or charter planes.
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Airport Resort Parking LLC wants to expand its airport private-parking
garage concept to Centennial Airport, targeting the private-plane set
there.
Plans are to build 22 private garages at Centennial. The garages could
allow those who own or charter planes to store their cars while they fly.
The company already has 30 private-parking units at Denver
International Airport and could build as many as 347.
Whereas high daily-parking prices at DIA might make the expense of a
private garage seem reasonable for some, Centennial's free open-air
parking could provide stiff competition.
Pre-construction lease rates for the Centennial units are $1,800 for
one year, with 4 percent annual increases, according to Airport Resort
Parking's website. Three-year, five-year and 10-year leases are also
listed.
A one-year lease at DIA starts at $2,400.
Airport Resort Parking, a development of L.C. Fulenwider Inc., also
wants to expand to Vail, Steamboat, Yampa Valley, Montrose and Grand
Junction, but those plans are not as far along.
The proposed Centennial development will be reviewed at an Aug. 10
public hearing of the Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority.
Airport Resort Parking principal Chris Thompson said the Centennial
parking garages, if approved, could open this year.
The Centennial private-jet market is different from the market at DIA,
where Airport Resort Parking targets mountain-home owners such as
Milwaukee lawyer James Clark, who flies into DIA about once a month and
then drives to his second home in Avon.
A delayed late-night flight last winter almost left him without
transportation to Avon, and "that sort of pushed me over the
brink," Clark said. He signed a five-year lease on a private garage,
which goes for $10,800.
"It's not an insignificant expense," Clark said, but "I
just got to the point where the convenience of having a car we could count
on outweighed the cost."
Twenty-five of the 30 units at DIA have been rented, and Airport Resort
Parking plans to start the next phase later this year.
Upstart firm
markets $15,000 to $40,000 spaces to execs, rich
By
Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News July 13, 2005
Travelers with at least $15,000 in spare
change will soon have a new option for long-term parking at Denver
International Airport: their own personal garage spaces.
An upstart
company called Airport Resort Parking LLC is building private garages
near DIA's main terminal, targeting second-home owners, frequent
fliers and executives who want to park their cars near the airport for
extended periods of time.
The garages will
be located at 7779 Harry B. Combs Parkway - about three minutes from
DIA's main terminal - and will feature remote and keypad entry, access
to a 24-hour, on-call shuttle and car services such as fueling,
cleaning and maintenance.
The price:
$15,000 to $40,000 - all of which must be prepaid - for five-, 10- and
20-year leases, plus maintenance dues that will cost an estimated $48
a month.
L.C. Fulenwider
Inc., managing partner of the project, will begin construction on 30
units later this month and expects to complete the initial garages by
late October. The first-of-its-kind project calls for a total of 347
garage units in the next couple of years.
"The only
other place in the country that this has been done on-site is at very
small airports," said Bill Prather, a partner in Airport Resort
Parking, which did not release the project's cost.
The garages -
from 22 feet to 24 feet in length - will be able to accommodate larger
vehicles such as SUVs as well as storage items. Travelers can call a
shuttle run by DIA's business jet center for transportation between
the garages and the airport.
Airport Resort
wants to focus on a niche market of people from other areas of the
country who own second homes in surrounding areas such as Vail. Often,
these out-of-state homeowners want to keep their private cars here but
face hurdles because DIA only allows covered parking for 30
consecutive days, Prather said.
About half the
property owners in Eagle County have primary residences in other areas
of the county.
"The
Colorado second-home market is very sizable," Prather said.
"We're talking about Estes Park, Steamboat Springs, Vail and
Summit County, which are big markets for second-home owners. The
60-mile to 100-mile range really lends itself to this concept."
Other markets
include businesses that send workers on the road frequently and
wealthy individuals.
"I think
upper-income travelers, particularly the fellow with an expensive car
who doesn't want to park next to someone and risk getting dings and
dents, will be interested, " Prather said.
Owners can let
anyone use their garages and can sell or sublease them to someone
else.
Demand for
private garages remains to be seen.
Many second-home
owners in the Vail area and other nearby towns bypass DIA completely,
opting for nonstop air service into small mountain resorts from such
large cities as New York, Chicago and Miami.
"It may be
wishful thinking that these people in Vail and Steamboat will pay for
a garage at DIA," said Jerry Jones, a real estate developer in
the Vail area. "Vail and Steamboat are getting more and more
direct air service from multiple cities."
Airport Resort
Parking said it won't compete directly with DIA. Rather, it will
supplement what the airport already offers.
The company said
its price is competitive with other businesses that offer long-term
parking in the area, which can charge $3,000 monthly.
USAirport
Parking, which has shuttle lots a few minutes from DIA, said it likely
won't see much competition from Airport Resort.
"You've got
probably over 50,000 public and private spaces around here," said
Karl Kelman, USAirport's marketing manager. "If they take a few
spaces from everybody, we won't really notice. I don't view them as a
huge competitor for us."
Project is a first at major airport By Kelly Yamanouchi
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
For most air travelers, scouting out a parking spot is an unpleasant fact
of life. But those willing to pay at least $15,000 will soon be able to drive
into their own private parking garages at Denver International Airport.
Airport Resort Parking LLC has announced plans to build 347 individual
unheated garages that will be available only with leases of five, 10 or 20
years. Plans call for the first 30 units to be available in late October.
The $4 million project is located on the DIA grounds near Signature Flight
Support, which provides service for private jets. Parking customers can walk
to their private jets or a Signature Flight Support shuttle can transport them
to the main terminal.
The project is the first of its kind at a major airport, said DIA
co-manager Vicki Braunagel. Similar options exist at some smaller airports.
The garages will be marketed to mountain-home owners and companies whose
employees travel frequently, said Chris Thomp son, an investor and company
principal.
"There are a lot of second- home owners who can't find a long-term
place to park that's secured from the elements of DIA," Thompson said.
Project investors include L.C. Fulenwider Inc. and its officers, Cal
Fulenwider, Bill Prather, Marcia Lujan, Thompson and Mark Throckmorton, as
well as Snowy Mountain Investors and its president, Dale Haarr.
L.C. Fulenwider owns 7,500 acres around DIA. Snowy Mountain Investors has
developed similar "car condominiums" at small Montana airports in
Great Falls, Kalispell, Missoula and Bozeman.
Vail Valley Jet Center, which provides service for private jets in Vail,
has seven heated and 48 unheated garages that rent for $150 to $210 a month,
or $1,500 to $2,100 a year.
Only two or three unheated garages were available Monday, said Vail Valley
Jet Center's Laura Mansfield.
"We usually don't have a hard time filling them up," she said.
Joe Brancatelli, who runs a website for business travelers, questioned the
viability of private airport garages but said, "You never know. The rich
are different, and the rich are marketed to differently."
High-end parking is in great demand, countered Rod Slifer, a partner at
Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate in Vail. "Vail Resorts just
finished (building) 110 parking spaces, and they sold them for $100,000
each," he said. "Hello!"
DIA is raising the rates for the terminal garages and economy parking lots
to shift demand toward the airport's shuttle lots.
The new rates take effect June 15.
The daily rate for parking in the garages will increase to $18 from $15 and
the rate for the economy lots will rise to $9 from $7. The daily rate for the
Pikes Peak and Mount Elbert shuttle lots will remain $5.
"The garages and economy lots are filling up on a regular basis during
most weekdays," Dorothy Harris, director of the Airport Parking Office,
said in a statement. "By raising the garage and economy parking rates, we
hope that some of our customers will utilize the shuttle lots more, where we
have plenty of capacity."