Study reveals hidden cost of monthly parking at home in Hawaii

Parking can cost $3 an hour at a meter in Honolulu, over $200 a month at a downtown office building and nothing on many public streets. But what does it cost at home sweet home?

A new study attempts to reveal the hidden price of parking for homeowners and renters across Hawaii.

This cost for a single parking stall at a low- or mid-rise residence is $22,500 on Oahu, $15,200 on Maui, $7,000 on Kauai and $4,200 on Hawaii island, according to the analysis by the Ulupono Initiative, a for-profit social investment firm that provides grants to nonprofits.

For an urban Honolulu high-rise, the cost for one space in a parking garage jumps to $42,000.

Ulupono’s study also estimates that the monthly expense for a parking space ranges from $180 to $410 statewide.

At the high end of this range, the cost in rent or a mortgage payment over a year would represent 19% of what a middle-income single person earns annually on Oahu ($88,200), and 37% for someone earning half as much.

For two stalls, the monthly expense would be $820 at the high end.

“In looking at these numbers, it is one thing to say we need parking; it is another to say we need it to the tune of more than a third of one’s rent, an extra $800 per month in mortgage costs, or an extra $45,000 to the cost of a home — all without any individual choice in the matter,” Kathleen Rooney, Ulupono’s director of transportation policy and programs, said in a statement announcing the study Aug. 13.

Ulupono produced the study with planning firm PBR Hawaii and construction cost estimator Rider Levett Bucknall.

The stated goal of the study, which included estimated costs to provide parking at commercial businesses, was to raise awareness of a cost that is embedded in daily life but not well quantified.

Ulupono’s study could also help assess and revise government parking requirements the organization said were established more than a generation ago.

The Honolulu City Council is considering a measure, Bill 2, that would update off-street parking requirements.

“Localized information is critical to informing important planning and policy decisions that are being made today about future development in our state,” Rooney said. “Broadly speaking, parking is one of the fundamental components of how our neighborhoods are developed and redeveloped, but it is very infrequently discussed in the context of costs — and whether we value it equally.”

Rooney also noted that many people need parking, but many don’t need as much and are still required to pay for it.

“This may no longer make sense on an island where approximately 43% of our households own one car or less, according to the U.S. Census 2018 American Community Survey, and cost of living is such a concern,” she said. “Many developers and residents do not have a choice in whether to pay for these facilities, contributing to the high cost of development in the state.”

The study said the typical size for a parking stall, 300 to 360 square feet, is close to the living area of some studios being developed in urban Honolulu, and that perhaps such space could be better used for more housing.

The study gauges how much parking costs as part of building a home today. So the cost of parking can be much less for longtime homeowners or tenants who rent older homes.

Some real examples also exist for what it would cost to buy parking at existing condominiums on Oahu.

A single stall at the Waikiki Landmark was listed for sale at $60,000 earlier this month. The stall also has a monthly maintenance fee of $37.

In 2018, the owner of a parking stall in Atkinson Plaza was asking $18,000 for the spot, and noted rental income from the stall was $150 a month. There also was a $204 monthly maintenance fee for the space in the building near Ala Moana Center.

“Great price for a conveniently located parking stall,” the listing said.

Ulupono said initiatives in recent years to promote higher-density residential and mixed-use development, often in close proximity to the city’s planned rail line, represent opportunities to reduce parking costs.

Yet some condo developers that have tried to include less parking in planned projects have turned off buyers.

Just last month, the developer of the project named Ililani in Kakaako said it needed to revise plans for its 328-unit tower in part to add an extra parking garage level and 56 more spaces because it was losing sales to prospective buyers who wanted two stalls.

The project, which has yet to break ground on a site adjacent to a planned city rail station, was initially designed with 410 parking stalls, or 1.25 stalls per residence, along with a car-sharing program with 10 electric vehicles exclusively for residents.

Four blocks from the Ililani site, another condo project was delayed in part because it was offering parking for only some units.

The 153-unit project, The Block 803 Waimanu, was selling 62 roughly 400-square-foot studios with no parking for $276,000 — far below the recent $440,000 median sale price for all condos on Oahu.

Block 803’s developer was creative with plans for a mechanized parking system in the building and an “urban mobility package” offering Biki bike rental credits, Uber credits and use of an Enterprise car-share program.

Still, sales were slow for units without parking, and construction that was expected to start in 2017 only recently got underway.

Part of the issue with transit-oriented development near planned city rail stations is that completion of the 20-mile rail line has been somewhat uncertain and is at least five years away.

Ulupono encourages more thought about supply, demand, cost and requirements for parking.

“Rightsizing and better managing parking,” the organization said, “present opportunities to more dynamically utilize urban land for housing, retail and community needs — such as increasing demand for more people-oriented design and active transportation and living — instead of merely for vehicles or vehicle storage.”

Parking costs

Examples from Ulupono Initiative study include:

>> $84,000: Two stalls in a 1,000-square-foot residential tower in urban Honolulu, or 20% of the $425,000 median sale price for condominiums on Oahu last year.

>> $45,000: two stalls in a 1,200-square-foot suburban Oahu home on Oahu, or 6% of the $789,000 median sale price for single- family homes on Oahu last year.

>> The study can be found at 808ne.ws/3l0pUSS