With its 1950s aesthetic intact, Knightley’s Garage is more than a kitschy throwback to the past. Wichita’s repurposed parking facility may actually be an indication of things to come. As personal auto ownership declines in urban downtowns, car-related urban infrastructure is increasingly underused. Some garages, like Knightley’s, are ripe for adaptive reuse. Others are being constructed from scratch in ways that will allow them to be repurposed down the road.

Key findings

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San Francisco's planning department estimates that minimum parking requirements can add as much as $50,000 to the cost of an apartment.

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The National Parking Association (NPA), a trade group of lot operators, supports the relaxation of parking requirements for developers, saying that strict minimums not only add to construction costs but also lead to slower development and excess capacity.

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A recent Rocky Mountain Institute (a transportation think tank) study predicts that 'peak car ownership in the United States will occur around 2020 and will drop quickly after that.'

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