Has anyone explored standalone parking structures?

[Robert Ellis]

Has anyone explored standalone parking structures—mechanical, semi-automated, automated, or rack-and-rail? We're looking into how these systems maximize space and efficiency, especially in high-demand areas. Curious if anyone has had success leasing or selling them, particularly under a triple net (NNN) lease. Worth the investment or too niche?

[Danny Simard]

I've managed a few parking facilities before, and the majority of the properties I've managed have parking. In general, parking is one of those things that is not exactly fun to deal with, but it makes a ton of money. In my opinion, it's at the far end of the un-sexy-but-profitable scale. You do need to partner with a good operator, and there's plenty of mediocre ones out there. 

Since you mentioned leasing, you can monetize garages primarily two ways: 1) management agreement. This is where you hire a parking operator to do the main parking operations, they send you revenue less their management fee each month. 2) lease. This is what it sounds like, you lease the garage to a parking operator. They pay you rent, and they operate a parking business.