The building fit the plan, and its downtown location was great. There was only one problem — where to put tenants' vehicles.

1. http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20120506/NEWS05/205050330/Study-
parking-insufficient-downtown-development

3. The building fit the plan, and its downtown location
was great. There was only one problem — where to
put tenants' vehicles.
Last year, Provident Realty Advisors Vice
President Matt Harris walked away from converting the
Johnson Building on Miliam Street in Shreveport into
loft apartments. The deal was going smoothly, he said,
until the cost to purchase nearby parking made the
project cost prohibitive.
The project would have installed 72 loft units in the
Johnson Building. Harris estimated he'd need about
100 parking spaces to accommodate tenants.
"Obtaining parking was too expensive for the deal
to work. That was it in a nutshell," Harris said.

4. Harris took the project to Monroe and found
another historical building to renovate — this one
came with parking, he said.
Parking downtown is insufficient to meet the
demands of business development, according to a
recent study commissioned by the Shreveport
Downtown Development Authority. Without
available spots, business owners aren't investing
in ventures.
The study examined two downtown areas.
Area 1 is bordered by Fannin Street on the north,
Common Street on the west, Milam Street on the
south and Marshall Street on the east. Area 2 is
bordered by Travis Street and Texas Street on the
north, Market Street on the east, Cotton Street on
the south and McNeil Street on the west.

5. The $11,800 study, conducted earlier this year
by Chicago-based Parking Consultants Rich and
Associates, determined Area 1 demands 2,150
spaces to accommodate current traffic, a 187-
space deficit. Area 2 demands 2,696 spaces, a
449-space deficit. Those deficits will continue to
increase as time passes.
"The difficulties that property owners have
reported in being able to redevelop or lease their
properties due to the lack of identifiable available
parking is consistent with the results of this
analysis and is also consistent with Rich and
Associates' experience in other cities where
parking occupancy is very high," according to the
study.

6. Roland von Kurnatowski, co-founder of the Tipitina
Foundation, is planning a 40 percent residential and 60
percent commercial venture in the Sears Building and
two adjacent buildings on Texas Street. The project is
moving forward, he said, but progress is hindered
because parking is so limited.
The $12 million project could be completed in a
year and a half if parking was available, von
Kurnatowski said. Without it, he said development
could stretch over as much as five years.
"Time can work against you with something like
this," von Kurnatowski said. "Tenants have options,
and stalling development can spell doom for these
projects."

7. In the two study areas, Rich and Associates
found there are 4,210 parking spaces. There are
393 on-street spaces and 3,817 off-street spaces.
Shreveport controls only 455 of those spaces,
about 11 percent. Rich and Associates has found
through past studies "to successfully manage
municipal parking in downtown, it is especially
desirable for the municipality to have control of at
least 50 percent of the parking supply."
Another 2,132 off-street spaces are privately
owned, but generally available to the public,
according to the study. Combined with city-owned
spaces, public parking in the two studied areas
reaches about 60 percent.
"Parking is imperative to development, which
is essential to commerce," said DDA Executive
Director Liz Swaine.

8. "You have to look at this as an economic
development tool. Vacant buildings do us no good."
The answer to the parking situation is clear,
Swaine said, and DDA is already working with
financing firms that specialize in finding investors
and funding options for multi-level parking garages.
Current expectations call for two garages downtown,
she said.
In Area 1, Swaine said the surface parking lot
behind Southern University at Shreveport, owned by
SUS, and the adjoining space, owned by the YMCA,
have been pegged for a possible multi-level garage.
There already have been conversations about the
plan, and Swaine said both entities are amenable to
the possibility.

9. In Area 2, Swaine said the SporTran Bus
Terminal has been identified as a suitable place for
a second parking structure. There are discussions
to combine the SporTran terminal with the new
Greyhound Bus Terminal in a few years, freeing up
the current SporTran property.
The costs are still unknown, Swaine said,
because the form the garages would take has yet
to be determined. Issues of size, style and whether
commercial space would be included affect the
cost of such structures.
"This is going to impact downtown for years to
come," Swaine said. "We'll either blow open
development potential or we'll just rock along like
we have been."

10. Some developers are confident the parking
problem will be fixed in due time, so they will
continue their projects slowly while working with
the city to contract spaces. Developer Jim Sari,
who intends to build residential apartments
downtown, said a parking structure could help
eliminate the hold on available parking.
"I believe it's going to happen. So for now, I'm
getting the ball rolling," Sari said. "And I can
always walk away if the city shows it can't perform
to get me what I need. The casinos, the nightlife —
there's money to be made here, and I want to
move them in."