Downtown Garage Ends Free Night and Weekend Parking

Knoxville Urban Guy·
Development
·24 Comments

The Prominade Garage, located on State Street behind Mast General Store, Downtown Grill and Brewery and other retail locations on the 400 block of Gay Street, has changed management companies and will no longer offer free night and weekend parking. The garage, owned by KUB, has changed operational companies from PBA to Premier Parking, and has announced the changes, effective Monday, February 1.

KUB has decided the garage will now charge $5 for up to two hours or $7 for 3 hours to 24 hours. The clock re-sets at that point and charges begin again. Starting in April, commuters will also be allowed to subscribe at a cost of $75 per month, though the availability of these permits will be limited.

I spoke to Evan Pryor, Regional Vice President for Premier Parking, who said the garage will operate off a license plate recognition system. I park in the garage and he explained this system is how the garage knows when I arrive and when I leave (I’ve been getting texts each time.). Customers will have the option of paying with cash or credit cards each time they park in the garage. A box will be located on the first level and on one of the upper levels adjacent to the steps between the two.

The company encourages use of a system Evan describes as “frictionless.” Users set up an account with Metropolis online (signs will have the URL and a QR code to take you there. The account retains your card information and users simply come and go as they choose, with fees charged to the card. The same system will soon be in use in Premier lots and garages in all locations. A trip to Nashville, for example, with parking in a Premier lot will not require use of credit card or cash. Simply drive in and drive out.

The garage will, of course, be monitored, and those who do not pay will be given citations or towed. Some merchants may participate in a validation program. In that case, scanning a QR code inside the business will send notice to the site not to charge.

I spoke with Eric Vreeland, Deputy Director of Communications for the city of Knoxville, who said all city-owned garages remain free nights and weekends, including the nearby State Street Garage, as well as the Market Square Garage, the two most popular downtown parking spots.

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24 Responses

  1. This is exactly why people avoid going downtown. Parking is a mess. 2-hour limits on meters, if you can even find one and now another garage is charging to park at night and on weekends. Couldn’t they have made it $2 or $3? $5 to $7 is too expensive for many people.

    Reply

    1. And your response is typical of folks who don’t frequent downtown, as my wife and I have for years. There have been ZERO occasions when we have not found a FREE parking space in one of the garages that offer complimentary parking on nights and weekends. Not one!

      Downtown is a wonderful, fun and inviting place. Free parking is a gift for visiting. We don’t take it for granted.

      Can’t wait for all our shows such as the KSO, Opera and Broadway to return to the Theatre District. Meanwhile, we enjoy our favorite restaurants safely while we wait for the pandemic to wane. What a happy day that will be!

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      1. I lived downtown for five years. $5-7 is to expensive. I was paying around $40 a month for a parking space.

        And yeah you are right there are plenty of spaces for free parking if you don’t mind walking a little bit. That is also why I find it weird this parking garage is going up so much. The PBA garages are $1/hour and max out at $7/day. The majority of people going downtown are there for less then 2 hours. So now this garage expects people to pay over double for a garage with limited covered spots. Hell the parallel parking outside of the garage is free at night, weekends.

        I lived down in Atlanta for a while too. Seeing $10-40 parking is not uncommon. But at least there is some method to the madness there. The real expensive parking is close and covered. This garage is close, but over half is not covered and of the spots that are covered about half of them are in puddles when it rains hard because of the drainage.

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      2. I disagree and do frequent downtown. You don’t know me. I’m well aware of what downtown Knoxville has to offer, as I think we all are. I was up at the Radius the other day and paid $15 or an old fashioned. Was it better than anywhere else? No. I don’t think the drinks are any better downtown, yet they are more expensive, as is the food. It’s much easier to head down Kingston Pike, get free parking, less expensive food and drinks that are on par with what is being offered downtown. Some of the downtown bars do offer a unique drink menu, so if you are adventurous or want to try new or different drinks, then by all means drop $15 on one cocktail. For me, pre COVID, it was the people and the atmosphere downtown that we liked and didn’t mind paying the upcharge for drinks there, but combined with paid parking or a long walk to the business district, it may be better to just Uber in and back home since we are just outside of downtown.

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          1. What is that supposed to mean? Judge much? What are you referring to when you say “people like you?” You are rude, condescending, and have no clue what you are talking about or how to be a decent human being. If you read and maybe comprehended my post, you would understand that we don’t mind paying for drinks downtown, but would rather Uber or Lyft in if there are going to be parking issues in the future. Typically, when one garage does away with free night and weekend parking they all follow suit. That may or may not happen here, but it could and that would still not force me to go to Cheddar’s because there is no atmosphere there. Didn’t your mother ever tell you if you don’t have anything nice to say to keep your mouth shut? She should have.

    2. No it isn’t too expensive for most people. Have you seen the drink prices? There’s a good reason for that, being that they are going to be way better than the drinks at your local suburban Applebee’s, but it’s still a very reasonable price compared to other cities of similar sizes. Although I do disagree with the decision overall as free parking on nights and weekends has always been a selling point for the city, and seems to be unique, as there are often tourists looking at the parking meters confused and I have to tell them it’s free. Hopefully this decision isn’t adopted by other garages.

      Side note, isn’t this the parking company that’s trying to tear down the Pryor Brown Garage for a surface lot of all things?

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      1. “as there are often tourists looking at the parking meters confused and I have to tell them it’s free” The meters are not free on nights or Saturdays. If it is free it clearly states that on the meter. Perhaps I misread your post. I just want to make sure that you are not giving visitors wrong information.

        There is plenty of parking if one is willing to walk a bit. Also you can add coins to the street meters that allow you to go beyond the two hour limit.

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        1. Some of them are. Or at least they were. The message flashing on the screen actually confuses them. Most of the general public is confused by signs.

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    3. The people who don’t frequent downtown are the ones who expect to park in front of a retail or restaurant location, park there as long as they want (ie no turnover of parking spots), and then go back to the burbs…in other words, want the downtown experience to be just like going to the mall or Turkey Creek…probably need some context to your assertion that no one goes downtown anymore..and by the way, there are 8 hour (maybe longer?) meters on Central Ave for parking during the day, and free after 6pm and weekends…’nuff said!

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  2. Aaaaahhhhh! For years I have thought the Promenade was city-owned and wondered why the rates were different from other city-owned garages. Now that that’s cleared up, I don’t think the new rates are excessive, but it seems like a bad/insensitive time to raise them.

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  3. Sorry to hear about the no more free parking at the State St garage as that was always a real incentive for people to go downtown to shop. When the Ragal Cinema on Gay returns to movie showing again will you will be able to take your movie stub and get free parking? I am assuming that won’t work now either.

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    1. The story is about Prominade not State Street Garage. State Street Garage, the one with the bridge that connect to the theater, is still free nights and weekends.

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  4. I hate to lose free parking in that lot, but more than that I hate to hear Premier Parking is taking over. My son once parked in one of their lots, paid the prepay machine, kept his receipt, and still got a ticket. He inadvertently paid for one space over from where he parked, and despite sending them a copy of his receipt showing that he tried to do the right thing, they refused to drop the extremely excessive penalty. I will never park in one of their lots again.

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  5. Seriously? Bad timing! The new company (Premier) should have the foresight to know this decision does not promote more visitors downtown during a Pandemic. If they insisted on charging $ for the parking at Prominade, it would make more sense starting later in the year (ie, Summer when more people are out and about?).

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  6. I worked downtown and also in the Old City for many years from the early 80s to the late 90s and watched the parking wars control commerce. The city did the right thing by making lots free on evenings and weekends. It probably is one of the single best things they ever did to encourage after-hours business, which also had the consequence of making downtown safer as well. My employees used to have to be escorted by an armed security guard to their cars at 5:30 pm — and this was right next to Market Square. It was, frankly, a very dangerous place to be after working hours. Hence, the proliferation of malls and stores away from the downtown area. Classic urban decay.

    A number of people have commented here on the bad timing, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s incredibly insensitive and certainly won’t help stimulate downtown business traffic, that’s for sure. Fortunately there are a lot of city-owned free parking areas, but the privately owned lots always affect post-work day business traffic. Look at the the history of the Old City. Once one decides to do this or raise their rates, others follow, and it’s a business-crusher. This lot owner, KUB, wouldn’t care about that from a business point of view, though. No dog in that fight.

    One of the main things more cities have discovered is that people crave free parking in the evening and on weekends. Even my tiny one-horse home town discovered that and got rid of their parking meters. Free parking stimulates consumer traffic, period. Sometimes it’s more of a psychological thing than the ability to pay, too. Also bear in mind, not everyone can walk several blocks easily. This particular lot is right behind Mast and other business along Gay Street and makes for easy entry.

    So I hope this doesn’t encourage rate increases or make the city think perhaps they should charge a nominal fee after all. It’s just not a good idea.

    Is it affordable? Probably. Is it a good idea? Duh, no.

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  8. If the city wants downtown to continue to flourish, free parking is a small price to pay in exchange for business. The downtown area is finally alive. Why not help it to stay that way.

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  9. Why did KUB make this decision? Are they hurting for money? If so, will the City of Knoxville PLEASE buy the Promenade from them??

    I made the mistake of parking in a lot that is managed by Premier Parking a few years ago on Hill Avenue. The payment station was set up in a way that you estimated how much time you were going to be there and paid that specific amount. I posted the receipt in my window. When I came back to the car about 15 minutes late, there was a parking ticket on my windshield for $60.00. Can you believe that? Truly excessive, just like what John mentioned in the comments about his son’s experience.

    I hope this changeover doesn’t affect the businesses along the 400 block.

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  11. Maybe the city of Knoxville can subsidize the new nighttime parking fees being imposed by Promenade making it more affordable for people attended big events downtown like the Tennessee Theater.

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    1. I think they would respond that they are subsidizing nighttime parking. The Locust Street Garage (645 spaces), Walnut Street Garage (1100 spaces), Market Square Garage (677 spaces) and (the closest one to the TN Theatre) the State Street Garage (1,497 spaces) are all free nights and weekends.

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  12. Well thats a bummer. That was my favorite parking garage and where I parked every time I went downtown, which pre-pandemic was often. It was a sneaky little parking garage that not many people knew about. Thankfully, State St garage is right across the street

    Reply

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