October 05, 2018
ParkEMU Announce Campus-wide Parking Upgrades at Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, Michigan – October 04, 2018– ParkEMU,the operator of Eastern Michigan University’s Parking system, is implementingsignificant upgrades to the University’s parking facilities and technology as a result of a parking concession agreement approved by the Eastern Michigan University (EMU) Board of Regents in December 2017.
ParkEMU is operated by LAZ Parking, one of the nation’s largest parking operators with thousands of parking locations across the country including Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. In April 2018, LAZ Parking, through its partnership with Preston Hollow Capital and Provident Resources Group, launched operations on a 35-year Public Private Partnership at EMU. Through this parking entity, ParkEMU is bringing new technology, innovation and best-in-class parking services to the entire campus.
Students, faculty, and staff returning to the EMU campus this fall have experienced ParkEMU-initiated repaving primarily at the Oakwood South, McKenny, and Normal parking lots on South Campus as well as the northwest corner of the Green Lot 1 parking lot on North Campus, comprising over 1,000 parking spaces in all. These first-year facility improvements in the concession agreement with the University were completed ahead of schedule with more parking system improvements planned for the coming years.
Updated parking services already implemented by ParkEMU include custom software allowing for specialized permit pricing for EMU students, staff and faculty. License plate recognition (LPR) technology has also been installed to provide better customer service and permit enforcement. ParkEMU has also introduced new policies and procedures for both short and long-term maintenance of the parking facilities throughout the EMU campus.
Additional improvements planned or underway include:
- Custom permits with specialized pricing for Rec/IM users.
- Online night parking pass sales for visitors.
- Enhancement of transient parking system to allow parkers to use credit-card receptive Text-to-Park technology at coin-operated parking meters.
- Increased transient parking with more convenient locations on campus.
- ParkEMU Motorist Assistance on campus during business hours (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) including jump starts, tire changes or tire inflation, and providing up to one gallon of gas if a vehicle is out of gas. ParkEMU does not provide direct lock-out services, but will assist customers to contact a third-party provider for the service.
Under the agreement, Preston Hollow Capital has committed to spend $4.2 million for parking enhancements. But the benefits to EMU go beyond parking. The university also received an up-front capital payment of $55 million; funds that EMU will use to leverage long-term investments in campus buildings and to bolster university reserves. The planned capital improvements had been announced previously and include renovations to Sill Hall, the Rec/IM, the Quirk/Sponberg Theater building and the Science Complex, where lab space will be expanded for new neuroscience and fermentation science programs.
EMU Chief Financial Officer Michael Valdes said the careful bidding and fact-finding process produced an agreement that fit what the university was looking for.
“This group worked very hard to come up with an agreement that yields maximum financial value to the university while providing EMU with a great parking operator,” he said. “LAZ is probably the most experienced firm in the space of public-private partnerships.”
LAZ has been managing Ohio State University’s parking operations since 2012 as part of a $483 million long-term lease and concession agreement with OSU. Parking services LAZ will provide at EMU include management of the permit system, parking enforcement, customer service, and motorist assistance. Additionally, LAZ Parking is responsible for providing parking facility maintenance for a parking system at EMU that is comprised of over 9,000 parking spaces spread throughout 66 parking lots and 2 parking garages.
Steve Hicks, CEO of Provident Resources Group, the concessionaire, noted that “as a national nonprofit focused on serving higher education, Provident is delighted to have this opportunity to partner with EMU in bringing state of the art and parking industry technology and efficiency to the University’s parking operations with LAZ Parking.”
About Eastern Michigan University
Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 20,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University’s Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Health and Human Services; Technology, and its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University’s website.
About Preston Hollow Capital
Preston Hollow Capital (www.phcllc.com) is the leading solution provider in municipal finance. Headquartered in Dallas, PHC is an independent specialty finance company with more than $1 billion in permanent equity capital and over $2 billion in investment capacity from a diverse investor base comprised of founding management, institutional investors including funds managed by Stone Point Capital and HarbourVest Partners, and several prominent family offices. PHC is uniquely focused upon certain sectors of the municipal bond market including infrastructure, real estate, education, and economic development and general government. To date, PHC has invested more than $1.4 billion in a variety of such projects.
About Provident Resources Group
Based in Baton Rouge, La., Provident Resources Group is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of building communities by promoting and advancing education; serving the needs of the elderly; promoting and advancing health care; assisting the poor by providing affordable housing; lessening the burdens of government; and preserving the environment. In order to fulfill its mission, the organization is involved in the development, construction, acquisition, ownership, management, maintenance and operation of public facilities. For more information on Provident Resources Group, visit www.provident.org.
About LAZ Parking
LAZ Parking (www.lazparking.com) is the second largest national parking management company in the United States, managing more than 2,500 locations in 336 cities across 28 states plus the District of Columbia, and manages gross revenues in excess of $1.2 billion annually. LAZ was formed in 1981 and is headquartered in Hartford, CT, with regional offices in Columbus, Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. LAZ has built its reputation on being among the most trusted, stable, and innovative parking solution providers in the United States. LAZ is committed to providing its clients with superior customer service through on‐going technological and administrative automation, based upon its corporate goal of being the “highest quality”provider of parking management services. LAZ is committed to employing industry leading best practices to achieve “Operational Excellence”.