Parking at Medical Offices

High parking ratios are typically aligned with high parking problems.  With standard medical office parking ratios currently at (or above) 5 parking stalls per every 1,000 square feet of gross leasable area, you really don’t think parking will ever be an issue.  This is rarely the case.  Parking tends to be a concern at medical office campuses across the country, and is often one of the most important issues to a patient.  Further, the availability of open and convenient parking spaces is usually below the patient’s tolerance threshold.   

Parking ratios are dependent on the average frequency and density of customers at any given property type.  Restaurants have the highest parking need and ratio, with medical office being second on the list.  When compared to standard office parking, which typically has requirements of 3 – 4 spaces per 1,000 Sq Ft, medical space demands a higher count of parking stalls.  The dense office environment of medical suites creates a need for a higher parking ratio.  

When visiting their doctor, one does not want to walk across a large lot, and can get upset if it takes more than a few minutes to reach the office lobby.  As with any building, the handicapped parking spaces are adjacent to the front doors, with the rest of the stalls further away.  The above average congestion in medical offices parking lots creates parking lot frustration across the country.  People don’t typically allot enough time to find available parking spaces when they visit the doctor, and when in a hurry, this can cause serious frustration.  

As higher parking ratios are needed, building subterranean or above ground parking structures causes the development costs to skyrocket.  To keep development expenses down, parking is usually allocated at the bare minimum requirement.  Until we start building more parking stalls than the required bare minimum, we will always be placing ourselves below the future need.