Seaport Village to Start Charging for Parking

Seaport Village will begin charging parking fees Monday to discourage non-shoppers from using its parking lot.

The shopping plaza, which has had free parking since it opened in 1980, increasingly has been used by motorists who do not shop at the center, officials said.

“We deeply regret having to make this move after 10 years of free parking,” said Robert Matuszewski, Seaport Village’s general manager. “However, encroaching development has forced us to do so in order to reserve parking for our patrons.”

Ace Parking Co. will handle the plaza’s validated parking program.

Shoppers are asked to save their receipts for validation. Parking is free for the first 30 minutes, $2 for the next two hours and $1 for each additional half hour. The maximum daily charge is $12, and the same amount is charged for lost tickets.

Free parking for two hours is available with purchases of at least $25.

Parking attendant booths, gates and computerized cash registers are being installed. One-hundred fifty parking spaces recently were added to the plaza’s parking lot, giving it 650 spaces.

“Our commitment to our tenants and patrons now forces us to find a better way to reserve parking for Seaport Village’s exclusive use,” Matuszewski said. “This is not a move we take lightly, and we hope our San Diego patrons will understand and appreciate this attempt to reserve parking for their benefit.”

Trolley transportation to the shopping center includes the San Diego Bayside line and Gaslamp trolley.

Seaport Village is the second major shopping plaza in San Diego to change its parking policy to discourage non-shoppers from using its parking facilities.

At Horton Plaza downtown, motorists using the 2,400-vehicle structure still get three free hours of parking, but only if they have their parking tickets validated by a merchant in the mall.

Shoppers must make a purchase to get a validation, but there is no minimum purchase.

Horton Plaza officials said the policy was changed July 2 because the parking structure increasingly was being used by non-shoppers. They said the lot was filled to capacity 110 times, for varying periods, last year. Of the 3 million vehicles that used the parking facility last year, up to 30% were not shoppers, officials said.

Validated parking costs $1 per half hour after the three free hours. Non-validated parking costs $1 per half hour and is no longer free after 5 p.m.