225 West Wacker Garage
Parking Solutions

Challenge

With the garage located in the heart of The Loop, it is imperative that the onsite parking equipment operates at maximum efficiency. Prior to ABM taking over the management of 225 West Wacker, the PARCS equipment would continually break down, causing the assistance button to stop working and the entrance gate to break.

Additionally, the equipment did not track overage fees for online pre-paid parkers, resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars. For customers paying onsite, the equipment did not accept credit cards, only accepting cash for payment, leading to additional expenses for the garage.

Solution

After taking over the garage management services, ABM did a full evaluation of all equipment. The evaluation resulted in a recommendation from ABM that the system be replaced with new Parkonect PARCS equipment. The new equipment allowed the garage to collect payments by credit cards only, thus streamlining revenue security control and eliminating extra costs, such as armored truck fees.

The equipment also brought newfound transparency to the client. 225 West Wacker now had access to customized reports on a cloud-based system, allowing up-to-date reporting and servicing to be easily managed from mobile devices. This reporting includes viewing live parking garage occupancy to help manage spots as well as receiving notifications if systems are down.

Benefits

Since installing the new PARCS equipment at 225 West Wacker, ABM has seen an increase of 40% in overall revenue growth month over month. This was made possible by managing daily occupancy counts, monitoring online pre-sale rates, and controlling and managing exception reports. ABM will continue to work on ways to improve efficiency for this facility with our partners at 225 West Wacker.

Just a short walk to the Merchandise Mart, James R. Thompson Center, and Chicago Theatre, this secure and affordable indoor garage in The Loop draws both locals and tourists. This 300 space, self-park facility, which also offers car wash services, is open 24/7.

“It’s made not only our experience better, but it’s also made the customer’s experience better with the use of the new technology.”  

— Nicholas Cannella, ABM Parking Operations Manager