Reston Town Center Merchants Are Still Getting Crushed By Paid Parking: Claim

RESTON, VA — Business may have improved somewhat for Reston Town Center merchants after Boston Properties opted in May to end paid parking in the evenings and allow an hour during the day, but most of them are still way down in revenue months after the change, one influential RTC business owner told Patch in a recent interview.

Aaron Gordon, the owner of Red Velvet Cupcakery and a person who has spearheaded a revolt by merchants against Boston Properties' decision to roll out paid parking in January, said that the Reston Merchants Association had a meeting just a few weeks ago that was attended by about 15-20 business owners, and virtually all of them said they were still suffering despite the changes.

"It's as much as 10 percent for us, and one owner came in and said he was down 50 percent on the year -- really remarkable numbers," Gordon said.

Gordon, who did not mention Boston Properties by name, said many of them have seen slight upticks in their dinner reservations, which "we primarily attribute to free parking after 5," but most were not seeing any improvement in business during lunchtime. "We just made the basic assumption that an hour isn't long enough for lunch," he said.

One major problem is communication, Gordon said.

"Our landlord did such an amazing job communicating that people are going to have to pay for parking," he said, noting that there were giant signs all over the place making the public aware of that fact. "But they've done a terrible job of communicating the new changes to paid parking, and that you can now park for free after 5 and for an hour during the weekday."

As far as what's next for the Reston Merchants Association, the group intends to continue to fight against paid parking as they don't feel that their landlord has done enough when it comes to parking, and that the paid parking hours are still too onerous for customers. As far as a possible lawsuit, the association is still weighing their options, Gordon said.

Image: Patch staff