Commuters to get 1,500 extra bays

BILLED as Australia’s largest single level car park, the 1,500 bay lot below the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre is scheduled to open in mid to late June.

The City of Perth has taken a 99-year lease over it.

The car park replaces the Mill Street car park that existed on the same site and contained about 1,200 bays.

City of Perth director of business units Doug Forster told WA Business News the car park would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The bays can be privately leased, with three different fee structures catering for differing needs and the daily rate between business hours for commuters is $11.

The City of Perth is the city’s biggest car park provider.

It supplies 65 per cent of the bays in the CBD and West Perth.

This also means the council is the largest contributor to a parking levy first imposed by the Western Australian Government in 1999.

In the past four State budgets the levy has been increased from $70 to $185.

It increased by $5 in the latest budget.

The parking levy is intended to support the free CAT and transit zone buses in the city and act as a deterrent to car use.

Property Council senior policy adviser Geoff Cooper said the levy was a way of stripping more cash from the property industry and was not an effectual deterrent from car use.

“Parking rates are highly important for commercial office space. When it is restricted and has a levy imposed, it encourages people to relocate, which in the end actually leads to more car use and defeats the policy behind the levy,” Mr Cooper said.

“With the increased vacancy rate in the CBD we would like to see policies that attract tenants rather than pushing them away.”

Computer Sciences Corporation moved in December from several different locations around the city to A+ grade commercial space in Subiaco. 

A 10-year lease was signed by CSC on its namesake building, which was recently sold by East Asia Property Group to DB Real Estate Australia on behalf of AXA Australia for $21.1 million.

CSC State leader Bruce Dinsdale said there was no doubt parking was cheaper and easier for staff in the new location.

“Parking wasn’t one of the issues that prompted us to move, but it is like a bonus to now have access to substantially more parking,” he said.