Northfield Stapleton is an outdoor retail and entertainment center located at the old Stapleton International Airport site in Denver, CO. The outdoor center has approximately 300 “pay” on-street spaces and is surrounded by big-box stores and approximately 5,500 “free” off-street parking spaces, mostly in large parking lots. Forest City hired DESMAN to determine peak hours for parking demand, primary pedestrian destinations, the average length of stay, and the future demand for parking associated with new mixed-use development. Planned at Northfield Stapleton are new residential projects, more retail space, a hotel, and a large fitness center. This future development will generate additional demand for parking and displace existing parking spaces.

All of the parking at Northfield Stapleton was included in surveys of parking occupancy on a Thursday and on two Saturdays. The parking was only about 55% utilized on the busiest Saturday evening. A parking duration and turnover survey determined that the most convenient and centrally located off-street parking at Northfield Stapleton was being used by employees and it was recommended to post Customer Parking Only, No Employee Parking, and/or 3-Hour Time Limit signs in the close-in lots to discourage employees from using them.

The analysis of future parking conditions indicated the future parking supply, all on-street and in surface parking lots, would exceed the estimated parking demand by approximately 15% and there would be no need to build a parking structure in the future. With that said, it was warned that the parking situation in the future will be much different than it is today and customers will have more difficulty finding an available parking space during peak periods. It was also determined that an unbalanced parking supply will increase walking distances from parking to primary destinations. There will need to be a good parking management plan in place at Northfield Stapleton in the future to rely solely on surface parking and tenants will have to be accepting of the more limited parking supply and sharing parking.