A parking garage in an office building is no longer just a construction cost or a logistical commodity. It is a strategic asset whose flexible management can increase the building's value by millions of dollars/euros.

Office Real Estate Facing the Challenge of Underutilized Infrastructure

Historically, parking has been perceived as a "necessary evil" to guarantee an asset's attractiveness. However, the economic reality is harsh: the construction cost of a single underground parking space ranges between €40,000 and €60,000.

For a 100-space garage, this represents a deployed capital of €5 million. Yet, with the widespread adoption of remote work, the physical occupancy rate of offices has stabilized between 50% and 60% in Western Europe.

The Conclusion: A parking garage managed statically through fixed allocations in leases generates mediocre financial returns (yield), often between 1.5% and 1.7%.

Why the Current Model for Parking Valuation Fails

The problem lies not in the infrastructure itself, but in its distribution model. By freezing parking spaces in long-term leases, owners suffer from:

• Systemic Rigidity: Spaces remain empty while other employees struggle to find parking.
• Loss of Direct Revenue: Failure to monetize transient traffic or third-party services.
• Technological Obsolescence: Difficulty in integrating smart EV charging on "privatized" and underutilized spaces.

Maximizing Parking NOI: From Surface to Service

To maximize parking NOI (Net Operating Income), the challenge is to move from a "surface rental" model to a "shared asset management" model.

Improving Real Estate Yield Through Flexible Management

Flexible management allows for decoupling the number of authorized users from the number of physical spaces. By optimizing foisonnement (the fact that not everyone is present at the same time), you can increase the effective utilization rate from 50% to over 80%.

This optimization frees up "dormant capacity." In a building occupied at 85%, approximately 45 to 50 spaces out of 100 are unused daily. By opening these spaces to rotation or electric vehicle (EV) charging services, the net operating income skyrockets.

Impact on Asset Value (Calculation Example)

In office real estate, an asset's value is directly linked to its NOI. According to market standards, an increase in revenue directly impacts valuation via the capitalization rate.

3 Levers to Optimize the ROI of Your Underground Parking

Deploying a "Parking-as-a-Service" strategy relies on three pillars:

1. Digitalization of Access: Eliminating physical badges and Excel lists drastically reduces parking operational costs for the Property Manager.
2. Shared Usage and EV Services: Transforming the parking garage into a service hub (electric charging) meets LOM Law (Mobility Orientation Law) obligations while creating a new profit stream.
3. Tenant Experience: Companies no longer want to pay for empty square footage. Offering seamless access via an application increases tenant satisfaction and reduces vacancy risk.

Conclusion: Activating a Hidden Asset

The parking garage is not a financial fatality; it is an untapped reservoir of value. In an era of hybrid work, sticking to static management is synonymous with wasting capital.

At Izix, we believe that a parking lot should be as agile as the people using it. By adopting our data-driven approach, property owners can transform marginal yields into solid financial performance while future-proofing their assets against new mobility trends.