Horton Plaza Lowers Cost of Parking
Beginning today, parking at Horton Plaza, downtown San Diego’s new retail center, will be both cheaper and simpler.
Instead of the labyrinthine rate structure which led to complaints from confused shoppers, officials from Horton Plaza, developer Ernest W. Hahn Inc. and the center’s four major department stores agreed that starting today, parking in the center’s 2,400-car garage will be free for the first three hours whether a person makes a purchase or not.
After three hours, parking will cost $1 an hour, said Lesley Binder, director of marketing for Horton Plaza.
The new policy will last through the Christmas shopping season. It will then be replaced on Jan. 2 with a similar, permanent policy. However, instead of three hours of free parking with no strings attached, the permanent plan will require a purchase of some item, regardless of cost, before a customer qualifies for free parking.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a pack of gum, a birthday card or a mink coat, one purchase, and you get three hours free,” Binder said.
The rates for both the temporary and permanent parking plans will be in effect seven days a week.
In providing free parking either outright or for a nominal fee, Horton Plaza officials acknowledge that the center’s garage may become inundated by office workers seeking cheap parking at the expense of shoppers.
“We will handle that as a separate problem,” said Bob Dobson, the center’s general manager. “If that happens, we’ll identify these abusers and take care of that individually.”
Dobson said that in implementing what he described as the “fairest parking policy possible,” there is the potential for abuse not only from office workers but also from people who patronize the Gaslamp Quarter, across 4th Avenue from Horton Plaza.
The change in parking fees will increase costs of the Hahn company. It built the structure for more than $20 million, and cost of operation is about $800,000 a year.
Hahn company officials were not available for comment. Binder said she didn’t know the amount of the increase but said that the Hahn company planned to absorb it.
Since its opening in August, the $140-million Horton Plaza has generated complaints from shoppers who were often confused by the complex rates charged for parking. There were separate rates for those who made purchases worth at least $7, for people who only window-shopped, a night-time rate and different charges on weekends.
“We all agreed the original program was too complex,” Dobson said. “With the change, it will now be easier to explain and to describe on signs.”
Both Dobson and Binder say the parking policy was changed to eliminate confusion and not because the old system was driving away shoppers.
For the months of August and September, sales at Horton Plaza were greater per square foot of retail space than in any of the Hahn company’s other 41 shopping centers, Binder said. Retail statistics for October have not been compiled.
“Our figures don’t show people are leaving the center,” Dobson said, noting that he had received about 50 letters complaining about parking. “But we are sensitive to what people have been saying they are sensitive to. We want to make things as simple as possible.”
