Yule Heibel on 2008-02-20
Yikes, sounds like Victoria's m.o. from late-70s, into 80s and beyond, now thank heavens changing because of residential pressures.
This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 20 Feb 2008, by Yule Heibel.
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20 Feb 08
Yule HeibelInterview with Marc Dube, "owner of most of the parking lots in downtown Hull." Parking lots are lucrative, as Dube's start in the business illustrates: "In the mid 1980s, Dubé and two others planned to open a restaurant in downtown Hull. The financing fell through after they had already signed the lease on a building. Dubé realized an alternate source of income: he could demolish the building and put in a parking lot. Since his partners weren’t interested, he began the business on his own." Read on from there.
spacing.ca surface_parking_lots toronto urban_design urban_renewal
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As he explained it: “We were three waiters that were supposed to renovate an old building into a restaurant…It was some kind of a deviation from the original idea.” Needless to say, his deviation was a success:
Well, 22 years ago the parking industry was not known at all here – like it was in Montreal, Toronto, busier cities, Ottawa. And now everybody knows about this business; but before, nobody. It was like a hidden jewel. It was something that nobody knew at that point and I just had the opportunity to go into that industry. And now, everybody wants to, would love to have parking because it’s a low maintenance company. Like once you add your trees and your paving and your booth you just wait for your customer to come in. It’s a simple industry. It’s not a complicated industry. And the beauty of it is that you get revenues that pay for your land, and your land keeps taking value. So then in 10, 12 years it’s a retirement fund, pension plan.
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Not every parking lot he opened did well. When asked if there are ever unsuccessful lots that people just don’t use, Dubé replied, “Yes, because some of them are too far from the activity. So if you have to walk five miles after you park your car, it’s not convenient. So the people at that point are going to go to plan B, which is the bus or the train.”
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How did Dubé manage to build all of those parking lots without intervention from Hull residents, from the city, or from anyone else?
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Dubé says his parking lot clients are “mostly government people, business people, industry surrounding the government people – like the fax, photocopiers reparation, things like that. At night restaurants, bars –that’s mostly the clientele”. Hull’s lots were not built for the neighbourhood – although local entrepreneurs and businesses feel they need parking in order to have customers.
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In Dubé’s eyes, parking lots are temporary spaces biding their time storing cars before being developed into condos. Parking lots are spaces that change; owners don’t necessarily conceive of them as permanent. Eventually someone turns them into something else.
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Yule Heibel on 2008-02-20
- their silver lining, I guess (unless they displaced older heritage buildings, in which case, "no lining for you, bub'..."
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