Turn a vacant lot into a carpark

xabi

I think i've spotted a potential opportunity for a car-park beside an IT college. Currently the students are using a free public car-park but this will be closed to them in the near future and there's a nice big vacant lot right beside it that would be ideal. How easy/difficult is it to get a permit from the Local Authority to use the lot as a car-park? What would insurance be like? Obviously the 'season' is short due to college holidays etc. but I think there is a an opportunity here.

PARlance

xabi wrote: »

I think i've spotted a potential opportunity for a car-park beside an IT college. Currently the students are using a free public car-park but this will be closed to them in the near future and there's a nice big vacant lot right beside it that would be ideal. How easy/difficult is it to get a permit from the Local Authority to use the lot as a car-park? What would insurance be like? Obviously the 'season' is short due to college holidays etc. but I think there is a an opportunity here.

Your target market is students... unless things have drastically changed in 15 years since I was one, they'll find cheap (free) parking elsewhere.

listermint

PARlance wrote: »

Your target market is students... unless things have drastically changed in 15 years since I was one, they'll find cheap (free) parking elsewhere.

Or walk

xabi

From the basic research I've done there isn't anything close-by that's free, or if there is it runs the risk of clamping. Im talking about charging a few euro per day and approaching the college with the offer of helping alleviate their park nightmare, I know that this gives them alot of grief currently.

xabi

listermint wrote: »

Or walk

Not modern students, lazy sods a lot of them.

pedroeibar1

xabi wrote: »

From the basic research I've done there isn't anything close-by that's free, or if there is it runs the risk of clamping. Im talking about charging a few euro per day and approaching the college with the offer of helping alleviate their park nightmare, I know that this gives them alot of grief currently.

Maybe the college will beat you to it.

kupus

Why not ask the college to rent it from you. THey do all the work for the payparking and you just collect the rent.

BrokenArrows

xabi wrote: »

I think i've spotted a potential opportunity for a car-park beside an IT college. Currently the students are using a free public car-park but this will be closed to them in the near future and there's a nice big vacant lot right beside it that would be ideal. How easy/difficult is it to get a permit from the Local Authority to use the lot as a car-park? What would insurance be like? Obviously the 'season' is short due to college holidays etc. but I think there is a an opportunity here.

Depends on the current situation of the lot.

You will probably not have any issues with the carpark side of things, but access to the main roads are what will cause concerns. Will additional traffic be generated by the existence of the carpark etc

xabi

kupus wrote: »

Why not ask the college to rent it from you. THey do all the work for the payparking and you just collect the rent.

That's one of the angles alright

xabi

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Maybe the college will beat you to it.

Maybe they wont

xabi

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Depends on the current situation of the lot.

You will probably not have any issues with the carpark side of things, but access to the main roads are what will cause concerns. Will additional traffic be generated by the existence of the carpark etc

It won't generate much more traffic on the road as the students currently use the free parking which would be next door to the proposed site.

Dades

Is the big vacant lot yours, or have the owners indicated you could rent it from them?

listermint

Public liability insurance?

xabi

listermint wrote: »

Public liability insurance?

Yes, definitely

xabi

Dades wrote: »

Is the big vacant lot yours, or have the owners indicated you could rent it from them?

It's up for rent

bmwguy

You are going to pave paradise to put up a parking lot

xabi

bmwguy wrote: »

You are going to pave paradise to put up a parking lot

Huh?

duploelabs

xabi wrote: »

Huh?

HeidiHeidi

xabi wrote: »

Huh?

:eek:

PARlance

xabi wrote: »

It's up for rent

My main concern would be that you're target is Students. Even a couple of euro a day will be viewed as being the weekly "pre drinks" budget... I believe that's what they now call, drinking in the house before heading out.

Second concern is above, if this venture does prove successful then the owner will just swoop in and do it instead (over time).

xabi

All good concerns, I'll do plenty of research and weigh it all up, getting the permission was the biggest block I saw.

Cianos

PARlance wrote: »

My main concern would be that you're target is Students. Even a couple of euro a day will be viewed as being the weekly "pre drinks" budget... I believe that's what they now call, drinking in the house before heading out.

Second concern is above, if this venture does prove successful then the owner will just swoop in and do it instead (over time).

Actually his main target is students, with cars. One can assume that students who drive have more disposable income than the average student. Given that there's already a captive market, if the price beats the inconvenience of walking, or taking the bus (which is more than a few euro in and out) then I wouldn't see a problem.

Edit: @OP you might want to check out the typical class schedules in the IT. If the students only have to be there for say 2 hours a day then maybe paying for pay and display is cheaper. If they have to be there for most of the day then it'll be to your advantage.

PARlance

Cianos wrote: »

Actually his main target is students, with cars.

I would expect most people implied that.

Cianos wrote: »

One can assume that students who drive have more disposable income than the average student

One wouldn't necessarily agree. To afford a car in the first place, then yes. After running costs, not necessarily and not likely in a large percent.

odeamarcas

I recently drove (or tried to drive) into the student car park at Cork Institute of Technology, 30 minutes later I had to ditch my effort to find parking and park illegally (kind of) in the Enterprise Ireland car park. I enquired when I went in about how many student car parking spaces there were for students in the vicinity, and the estimate was 2,000.

You could be on to something, depending on the number of students attending the I.T., and current supply.

xabi

Its CIT im thinking about and thats the info I got from talking to a few that had parked illegally near the site I have in mind, they all said they would be happy to pay for parking where I have proposed as its less than 5 mins walk to college. They have been using the carpark by the HSE / Tax office but they are stamping down on that now and the same is planned for the Enterprise Ireland place.

ironclaw

If one had the cash years ago to buy a plot near UCD and build a multistory, you'd be a multi-multi-millionaire by now. That place could never have enough parking. I'm surprised actually that Dundrum or similar don't tender out a set number of spaces in the down time during the day and run a shuttle to the college. Or better yet, two Dublin bike stations and you have yourself a very handy commute with guaranteed parking.

There are plenty of students with the resources to run a car and would happily pay for parking. I would have happily paid for UCD parking in the past if it guaranteed me a slot. You now just pay for it with no guarantee of a spot but the hawks of NCPS chasing fines.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

PARlance wrote: »

My main concern would be that you're target is Students. Even a couple of euro a day will be viewed as being the weekly "pre drinks" budget... I believe that's what they now call, drinking in the house before heading out.

Second concern is above, if this venture does prove successful then the owner will just swoop in and do it instead (over time).

There's more than 18 year old students with no money in college. Some have money, some are mature students etc. I went to college in Limerick and best of luck finding a space there ANY day. 1000 cars crammed in, all paying €8 to €10 a day at the height of recession. Believe me... The money is there.