Broadway Parking Lot in India Goes Automated
Posted on | January 28, 2011 | Comments Off on Broadway Parking Lot in India Goes Automated
CHENNAI: Aiming to easing traffic congestion in north Chennai, the Chennai Corporation has decided to begin construction of an automated car parking system on the southern end of Broadway MTC terminus. Exactly two years after giving its nod for the project, the elected council of the local body which will meet on Monday to give the formal go-ahead to the lowest bidder, IVRCL Assets and Holdings Limited.
The corporation zeroed in on IVRCL after three unsuccessful biddings in the past. As per the plan, the corporation will get concession charges to the tune of Rs 81 lakh and a hike of 5% every year from the contractor. “The council will approve the contract firm and work order will be issued immediately thereafter. The agency will take 18 months to build the system and put it to public use,” mayor M Subramanian told TOI. Under the design-build-own-operate-transfer basis, the contractor will run the car park for 20 years before handing it over to the corporation.
It was after a study by Crisil Risk and Infrastruction Solution Limited in 2008 that the local body embarked on the massive project to resolve traffic congestion in and around Broadway, the city’s bustling commercial district. As per the consultant’s report, the automated system shall be built in an area of 3,000 sq m to accommodate 500 four wheelers and 660 two-wheelers at any given time.
The identified bidder, according to officials, has suggested entry of vehicles from Esplanade and exit through Narayanappa Street near Raja Annamalai Mandram.
The parking fee structure will be similar to the one that will be in place at the automated parking system coming up at Wallace Garden First Street in Nungambakkam, near Apollo Hospitals. The company will collect Rs 20 for the first hour of parking and an additional Rs 10 for every subsequent hour. For two-wheelers, the fee will be Rs 5 for the first hour and an additional sum of Rs 5 for every subsequent hour. Seasonal ticket will cost Rs 1,500 for cars and Rs 500 for two-wheelers.
Futuristic Parking Garage Opens in Britain
Posted on | October 1, 2010 | No Comments
Britain’s master-planned, mixed-use urban developments garner as many headlines for their financing woes and labor-contract disputes as for their vanguard architecture and residential amenities. Rarely would a parking garage feature among these complex’s biggest talking points, but not all garages are built to the specifications required by the Cube, a 450,000 square-foot site in Birmingham, hemmed in by a canal and surrounding businesses. Read more
Boomerang Systems, Inc. Announces New CEO
Posted on | September 23, 2010 | No Comments
Morristown, New Jersey, August 23, 2010 – Boomerang Systems, Inc. (OTCQB:BMER) announced that it has named Mark R. Patterson as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. The Company’s founder, Stan Checketts, will continue to lead product development and manufacturing as CEO of Boomerang Sub Inc, which handles US operations.
Until January of 2009, Mr. Patterson was a Managing Director and the Head of Real Estate Global Principal Investments at Merrill Lynch, where he oversaw the real estate principal investing activities of Merrill Lynch. Mr. Patterson joined Merrill Lynch in April 2005 as the Global Head of Real Estate Investment Banking and in 2006 also became the Co-Head of Global Commercial Real Estate which encompassed real estate investment banking, principal investing and mortgage debt. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Patterson spent 16 years at Citigroup where he was the Global Head of Real Estate Investment Banking since 1996. During his career, Mr. Patterson has been involved in a wide variety of financing and investing activities that have spanned virtually all types of real estate in most major global property markets.
“I am thrilled to be a part of one of the most innovative and dynamic companies in the real estate business today. Real estate is a very mature business so when a breakthrough in technology like Boomerang’s RoboticValetTM is introduced, it not only creates excitement because it’s something new, but primarily because we believe it can give owners and operators a competitive advantage in the market.”
About Boomerang Systems – Boomerang Systems, Inc. is a leading US manufacturer of automated parking systems headquartered in Morristown, NJ with research and production facilities located in Logan, Utah.
Additional information may be obtained by contacting Maureen Cowell, Boomerang’s Secretary, at 973-538-1194 or email at maureenc@boomerangsystems.com.
Old Capital Green development features ‘Green’ Garage
Posted on | August 25, 2010 | No Comments
An automated parking garage with robot valets is one of the features of a $27 million proposed parking structure and communal air-conditioning unit to accommodate the $1.3 billion Old Capitol Green development in downtown Jackson.
“Our engineering accomplishments include the world’s tallest amusement-park ride, the world’s fastest roller coaster in Japan and the world’s next-fastest roller coaster in Germany, but we’ve put our technology to use within the last four years in parking,” Don Jagoda, sales director for New Jersey-based Boomerang Systems, said at a Jackson Redevelopment Authority meeting yesterday.
JRA members voted to form a funding strategy with Capitol Green developers Full Spectrum South, which will include state and federal tax credits, Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds and a potential co-ownership with JRA. The funding plan must be executed quickly, as GO Zone bonds expire on Dec. 31, 2010.
The garage itself will reduce street parking by 50 percent and make the Old Capitol Green more pedestrian-friendly. The parking garage estimated cost is $21.3 million and the cooling system another $5.3 million. The garage and central air conditioning unit would serve multiple buildings, and will form the backbone of the greater 50-acre development that stretches the length of State Street crossing Court and Pascagoula Streets.
“We’re planning to qualify for federal and state new market tax credits of about $6 million,” said Full Spectrum Development Director Malcolm Shepherd.
If the loan comes from the state, it could have a 20-year lifespan. Senate Bill 3281, which allows Full Spectrum to borrow $20 million, sets a 20-year term. If the loan comes from the JRA, Shepherd said the company would prefer to have the maximum term available, which could be up to 30 years. Both the garage and the cooling system will draw revenue from a multitude of residential and commercial residents who use them, and ownership of the garage could fall to the JRA after seven years.
Jagoda claims Boomerang Systems’ new technology would allow developers to fit 806 parked cars into a comparatively small two-level building. The garage is able to save space by replacing parking attendants with robots, Jagoda said.
The idea of letting robots move a person’s car may initially feel unsettling, but the parking garage fits in with the development’s goal of saving electricity and space, Jagoda said. Boomerang’s multitude of robotic valets look like a tribe of red pancakes. They can reach underneath a vehicle and pick it up–turning up to 360 degrees–and carry it down a narrow lane into a parking space. The majority of the robot-occupied parking garage will be unlit to save electricity.
“It takes about two minutes for the robots to go and get your car back,” Jagoda said, describing a process similar to getting a can of Coke from a vending machine receptacle.
JRA member John Reeves, a former state representative for Jackson, said he was eager to get the process moving. He voted in accordance with other JRA members to dedicate attorneys and accountants to work with Full Spectrum to devise a $20 million bond and payment plan.
“I was impressed with the Full Spectrum presentation, and I’m excited to see this project finally turn dirt,” Reeves told the Jackson Free Press. “I voted in favor of the project while I was in the Legislature, and I’ve been optimistic that something would happen, and this is wonderful.”
The Jackson Redevelopment Authority is a quasi-governmental entity created by the city of Jackson to deal with economic development issues primarily dealing with properties. The JRA dedicates itself to acquiring; leasing and selling property, and can float bonds to finance renovation and development, city spokesman Chris Mims said.
Adapted from Jackson Free Press
Tags: Boomerang Systems > Jackson > Old Capitol Green > Robotic parking
First Fully Automated Parking Garage in Copenhagen
Posted on | June 22, 2010 | No Comments
In the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen you can now send your car underground and have it collected again – completely automatically. Copenhagen City Council has opened the first of three underground car parks, where ALECTIA is the consulting company.
In the new car park only the cars go underground. You deposit your car in one of the lifts, go to the registration machine and the fully automated lift system sends you car down to an available parking shelf.
This car park provides Inner Nørrebro with 164 underground parking spaces and a new recreational area in the southern part of the district.
“The new car park enables us to get some of the cars placed underground so that we can recapture the urban space for pedestrians and cyclists. In this way, we are able to create a framework for a good life in Copenhagen,” says Mayor of Technical and Environmental Administration Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard, who cut the ribbon at the opening of the car park.
Better parking and better urban spaces
A fully automated car park takes up less space than a conventional car park. At street level the only things visible are the two lifts where you leave and collect your car. Underground, the system only takes up a small amount of space because the cars are packed closely together in the shelf system. In addition to the underground parking spaces, there is now enough space next to the system for a small recreational area with benches and trees. Read more
The parking robots are coming.
Posted on | May 14, 2010 | No Comments
Over the past decade, automated parking systems have become quite common in Europe and Asia, where land use constraints are tighter and many areas more congested than the US.
The number of automobiles produced worldwide may actually be on the decline, but we still crank out over 50 million cars each year.
Along with the new trend of “bright flight“, American city developers are feeling the capacity crunch, and auto-auto-lots have begun to appear here as well.
Although the first of these facilities — built in Hoboken, NJ in 2006 — was plagued by technical glitches and failures (little things, like dropping an unoccupied Cadillac 6 stories…), the technology has advanced quite a bit since then. Working automated lots are in use in Washington DC and New York City, with more planned for other locations.
The fourth automated lot in the country — and the first in Philadelphia — has just opened below ground at 1706 Rittenhouse Square Street.
Garage entrance
Tags: 1706 Rittenhouse > Philadelphia
Meet 1706 Rittenhouse’s Robot Garage
Posted on | May 12, 2010 | 1 Comment
Inquirer real estate reporter Alan Heavens takes a look at 1706 Rittenhouse Square Street‘s Jetsons-like automated parking system.Heavens writes that after a resident drives his car onto a pallet in the building, “the system takes the car and its pallet automatically to the nearest empty space on one of four levels below. On the way down, the car is turned 180 degrees and backed into the space, so when it is retrieved, the car can be driven straight out to the street.” Automated garages have been popular in Europe for some time, but they’re still rare in the U.S.; the video above shows one of the handful of robot garages in New York. (The one in 1706 is Philly’s first.) The condo’s developer said he decided to go with a robot garage because the building’s small footprint meant a traditional underground garage wasn’t doable. Installing the system cost more than $140,000 for each of its 64 spaces.
adapted from Brownstoner Philadelphia
Tags: 1706 Rittenhouse > robot
Coming Soon: Robots Parking Cars in West Hollywood, Calif.
Posted on | May 10, 2010 | No Comments
If you can imagine a parking garage with a valet service run by robots, then you have a good idea of what’s up the road in West Hollywood, Calif. In June, city officials plan to issue a request for qualifications (RFQ) for the city’s first fully automated parking garage for City Hall visitors, staff and commercial visitors, according to Oscar Delgado, the city’s director of public works and project lead. Essentially the proposed 200-space parking structure will use computer-controlled motorized lifts, conveyers and shuttles to transport cars from an entry bay to a parking space and vice versa. No humans needed. But the project is still in its early stages. City planners are currently meeting with fire officials to address any concerns about structural integrity before the RFQ goes out. Read more
Tags: automated parking > Chinatown > Hoboken > Hollywood
How Legacy Automated Parking Systems Work
Posted on | April 21, 2010 | No Comments
For the last year and a half or so, we bombarded you with news about how many vehicles any given manufacturer sells each month. We witnessed together how millions after millions after millions of vehicles find new owners each year worldwide. Toyota alone, to give you an example, sells around 8 and a half million vehicles each year. Naturally, the question arises: where will we park them all? We mean, the streets aren’t getting bigger, cities grow much slower in size than the sales rate of new vehicles and yet, more and more cars keep poring onto the roads. Read more
World Parking Symposium -Tech Solutions
Posted on | March 25, 2009 | No Comments
Excerpt from Simple Solutions and Complex Technology at the World Parking Symposium
Technological Solutions
Several speakers presented on how high tech automated parking systems are being used to make more efficient use of garage space by eliminating access ramps and lanes. These systems function like giant filing cabinets for cars. Drivers simply park their vehicle at an access point, get out of the car, and turn a key to activate a powerful hydraulic system which stores the car away. Cars are stacked and shuffled around inside the garage until retrieved. It takes about 1 ½ to 2 minutes to get your car out of such a storage system – it appears in its box, and you get in and drive away. The first adopters of such automated vehicle storage systems are mainly high-end condo developments such the 155 space Calle de O’Donnell multiparker in Madrid. Munich became the first city to install one as a public garage in 2007, when they built a 376-spot underground garage to replace 255 on-street parking spots on three city blocks where search traffic and blocked sidewalks were chronic issues. Uncertain whether residents would tolerate not having instant access to their vehicle, Munich offered the underground garage spots at about half the price of a spot in a normal garage; today there is a long waiting list to get in. Residents consider the new streetscape, with wider sidewalks, half the traffic lanes, and just a few parking spots for guests, a major improvement.
Adapted from Planetizen
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