Valet Pays Off For Centers
Atlanta-based AmeriPark has made its name as top provider of valet parking services in the retail industry.
Kevin Jeselnik

AmeriPark provides valet services at Simon Property Group’s new lifestyle center in Jacksonville, Florida, called St. Johns Town Center. The company has a contract with Simon to provide its services at the developer’s shopping centers across the country.

“When we started, we proactively decided retail was really in play,” Patterson explains. “There was nobody in the parking business focused on it, so we decided to be the retail guys, to really know the industry and do it right.”

The hard work AmeriPark has put in to establish a presence in many malls and centers paid off when Simon Property Group selected the company to integrate valet services into 44 of Simon’s malls throughout the nation. “When Simon gave us the deal, we had to roll out 44 deals in 6 months,” Patterson says. “That gave us a true national footprint very quickly.”

The company has quickly expanded its operations from Atlanta to locations across the country, with centers throughout Florida and Southern California, as well as in Las Vegas, Boston, Charlotte and Washington, D.C. The credibility Simon has given AmeriPark has led to deals with other retail developers such as General Growth, Taubman Centers, Westfield and The Mills Corporation for valet programs at their centers. Patterson believes that developers have been very receptive to the concept because AmeriPark fits into the malls almost as another tenant.

“I think the developers have definitely found a new tenant, a new revenue source,” he says. “We fit into the tenant mix very well, especially when there are restaurants.”

Mark Hancher, operations director, Chris Damico, senior vice president of business development, and Jeremy Scott, senior financial analyst, look over plans for a new retail property for which AmeriPark will be providing its unique brand of valet services.

A mall or lifestyle center that features a restaurant cluster will lose daytime dining customers if parking is not available near the restaurants; there are too many convenient choices out there for the consumer. With valet in place, a parking area near the restaurants is protected and filled by diners during the prime lunch and dinner hours. “It lets everyone live symbiotically,” Patterson notes. “Restaurants thrive because of it, the mall gets a new tenant, since it makes a percentage of our revenue, and we’ve made a good business out of it — everyone benefits.”

In the future, Patterson expects to see more business coming from mixed-use properties, as well as lifestyle centers and hotels, which are proving to be an emerging boon for AmeriPark.

“There are other product types blooming from our core business,” he explains. “We got in front of the curve; retail seems to be driving the real estate industry as a whole and that is leading us to other things. Marriott is becoming one of our biggest customers.”

AmeriPark has also recently acquired some self-parking facilities as part of recent deals and is integrating those into its plans. Patterson also feels that security is an issue that will affect the valet industry in the future, as providers seek out ways to integrate increased security into its services. AmeriPark is looking into various innovations and possible ventures with leading security firms.

“If we can find a way to roll in one of the security groups as partner, it’s something worth thinking about in an effort to create a smarter product for our customers,” he says.

Patterson credits his team for helping grow the company into the innovative force it is today. Chris Damico, senior vice president of business development, and Butch Ross, business development and acquisition management, work with President Rob Lawyer to seek out new ventures and find new deals to expand AmeriPark’s scope.

As the service evolves, so do the customers using it. “When I started, it was a luxury item for a few,” Patterson says. “Today, it’s for everybody, from minivans to Mercedeses; we have a much more diverse customer base.”

With valet becoming more common in retail, Patterson feels it is important for developers to get a valet operator such as AmeriPark involved in the planning process before the cement is poured. “Eighty percent of the malls out there aren’t set up for valet,” he says. “Simon got us involved in St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, Florida, and we were able to make a couple of minor changes that made a huge difference in the flow of traffic and how the valet was incorporated into the project.”