Parking solutions for an urban grocery store

[Jacob Bornstein]

We believe that a grocery store, or any store larger than a simple convenience store, would be a great addition to downtown Ithaca, NY. The one problem is that we already have a problem with parking that we have to deal with, and our space is limited. We need to find adequate solutions for both of these problems if we are going to continue with this idea. The question I pose is, "What have other grocery stores done to combat the typical suburban style supermarket with ground level parking in an urban setting." I am positive that there is similar example somewhere in the many larger cities of America, but I am not sure as to where to find them. Please, are there any ideas and/or examples?

Thank you.

Jake

 

[David Danenfelzer]

Try contacting Whole Foods grocery stores in Austin, TX. Whole Foods has done a lot with urban grocery stores in the past two years. They might be able to help you find some resources and numbers to support urban markets in Ithaca.

Good Luck.

 

[Florida PlannerPerson]

The City of Pittsburgh (my original hometown) approved the renovation of an office building into a supermarket on the second floor with parking garage on the first floor (and small parking area around the building, including the truck delivery areas). The customers access the supermarket via elevator from the groundfloor parking garage. I'm sure this has been tried elsewhere, too, as I understand that Publix Supermarkets have brought forward a site plan for approval here in Florida, in the City I work for (but I'm not in development review, so know little about details), and this proposal is for a "vertical" supermarket, too. This is a good solution for urban areas.