With the green light in Norwalk, POKO Partners can begin the process of construction on its Wall Street Place development with plans to include a state-of-the-art, fully automated parking facility.
POKO Partners, developers of mixed-use and mixed-income projects based in Port Chester, N.Y., intend to include 212 parking spaces housed in two levels below grade, in addition to 23 conventional surface parking spaces.
“We are excited to take one more step in helping to revitalize Norwalk”™s historic downtown,” said Kenneth Olson, CEO of POKO Partners L.L.C. “The automated parking facility at Wall Street Place will bring a high-tech parking solution to downtown and encourage area residents to take advantage of the proposed pedestrian-friendly environment.”
POKO recently received design approval from the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency to move forward with phase 1 of the plans for Wall Street Place at the heart of Norwalk”™s historic district.
Though a contract has not been signed, POKO has specified that it will be using the A.P.T Parking Technologies service, based in Manhattan.
The parking system includes computer software designed to store the vehicles based on anticipated departure times and to calculate repeated users”™ tendencies.
According to POKO, the average retrieval time for a vehicle is approximately two minutes.
“The benefit for the developer is the space-saving dimensions,” said Lee Lazarus, president and founder of A.P.T Parking Technologies. “The real opportunity is to learn people”™s habits; if you leave for work at 7 a.m. every day, the system will begin moving your car to a more quickly accessible position that morning. It really expedites the retrieval process, and people can even call in.”
POKO also says that because no one other than the driver enters the vehicle, the chance of robbery or personal assault is drastically reduced compared with conventional garages.
Automated electronic signage is planned to indicate the number of parking spaces available, and other information significant to patrons.
POKO plans to install LCD screens in order to assist and direct drivers to properly park their vehicles inside one of three drive-through cabins.
The arrangement allows drivers to park their cars, turn off the engine, remove any belongings and exit the cabin, triggering sensors to scan the cabin to measure the height, length and width of the vehicle, and to ensure no person remains inside.
Upon confirmation, the car is transferred to a lift that descends to the storage area.
“Upon the retrieval, someone would go to a machine and insert their ticket and the computer begins retrieving their car,” said Lazarus.
According to POKO, the absence of the ramps and the drive aisles will allow for approximately one third more parking spaces in the same cubic feet as that of a conventional parking garage.
Upon completion of the three phases of construction on the 6-acre site, 802 parking spaces will be available.
Construction for phase 1 of Wall Street Place is slated to begin later this year and completion is tentatively scheduled for spring 2010.
