Christchurch City Council's flash new Lichfield St car park building loses $18k in a month

Empty spaces mean the Christchurch City Council's flash new $31.3 million car parking building appears to be haemorrhaging money.

The Lichfield St car park's loss was $18,000 in March alone – it made $69,000 in revenue but cost $87,000 to run.

The 805-space central city building opened in November. Last Monday, Central City Business Association chairman Brendan Chase said the building regularly had more than 500 free spaces.

Stuff put Chase's claim to the test by recording parking availability in three central city parking buildings – Lichfield St, Hereford St, and West End – at 10am and 2pm for three working days last week. The Crossing was not recorded because the screen displaying available spaces was off, while the Art Gallery car park does not display space numbers. .

From Stuff's survey, the Lichfield building was two-thirds empty on average, with between 500 and 600 empty spaces at each recording. The Hereford St building had 110 to 140 free spaces from its 500-odd public parks (26 per cent empty), while the West End building had between 20 and 60 spaces from its 270 public parks (15 per cent empty).

Stuff

 

This was despite the Lichfield building offering one hour's free parking and cheaper hourly and day rates than the other two buildings surveyed, which are both operated by Wilson Parking.

Council transport operations manager Steffan Thomas said the Lichfield St building's size was based on expected demand for central city car parking once key developments were complete.

He said the building was "built for the future" and usage numbers were expected to increase as the central city developed.

 

Joseph Johnson/Stuff

Several of the eight levels in the Lichfield St car park building were empty when Stuff visited on a Thursday afternoon.

 

The latest council figures show 21,900 vehicles used the Lichfield St building from March 1 to 28. Occupancy rates were not supplied. Thomas said user numbers was more useful as occupancy was fluid depending on the time measured.

He said the building had costs of $87,000 per month and revenue in March had been $69,000, leaving an $18,000 deficit.

Based on the current average stay, the building needed 27,000 users per month to cover costs, including the one-hour free parking users. Thomas said the car park was not currently reaching that number.

 

Joseph Johnson/Stuff

The West End was, on average, 15 per cent empty during Stuff's three-day survey.

 

Chase said the council had a civic responsibility to use its assets in ways that benefited the community. It needed to be promoted so it did not sit half empty every day.

He earlier said the Lichfield St building would be "an ideal stop-gap" for hospital parking as it was accessible, clean and dry, safe and could be linked to the hospital with a shuttle service like the one currently to Deans Ave.

The hospital runs a shuttle service from a 300-space Deans Ave car park, which has been criticised for its potholes, puddles and uneven gravel surface.

 

Joseph Johnson/Stuff

The Lichfield St building has 805 car parks, but hundreds sit empty each day.

 

Joseph Johnson/Stuff

The Hereford St car park building was, on average, 26 per cent empty over the three days. It has 580 bays, of which 500 are public.

 

Joseph Johnson/Stuff

Plenty of spaces free in the Lichfield St car parking building. The council says it was built with future use in mind.