Boston Properties Will 'Evaluate' ParkRTC Situation: Exec

RESTON, VA — The top brass at Boston Properties is well aware of the controversy over paid parking at Reston Town Center, and while they aren't backing down yet, a BXP executive said during Wednesday's quarterly earnings call they are "continuing to evaluate our execution" of ParkRTC.

BXP held its quarterly earnings call on Wednesday morning for the first quarter of 2017, when it reported a 9 percent drop in profits compared to the same period last year. Reston came up a couple of times during the call, including during the question-and-answer session when one caller asked about the paid parking situation at RTC.

An executive who did not identify himself said he was aware that customers "have expressed concerns" about the functionality of the system or "simply having to pay for parking."

"We are continuing to reevaluate our execution [of ParkRTC]," he said, noting that he wants to make sure Reston remains a "preeminent location for business in northern Virginia."

However, he defended the decision to charge for parking, noting that Reston is an "urban location" with primarily structure parking, and with the coming arrival of mass transit to the region with the Reston Town Center Metro station, it's "not uncommon" to have paid parking in an area with such high population density.

He described ParkRTC as a "state-of-the-art parking system" being utilized by cities across the United States, and there have been a total of 140,000 users at RTC so far.

The decision to switch from free to paid parking through the ParkRTC system in January has caused a revolt among RTC tenants, who claim they are seeing revenues plummet as visitors abandon the area to shop elsewhere. One RTC tenant has sued, and many others have organized into the Reston Merchants Association to oppose ParkRTC and potentially file their own lawsuit.

Image: Patch file photo