Christopher Alan calls it valet parking for all. After five years of planning, the team at Valley Glen-based Dasher/Lawless Inc. and Auto Parkit LLC are nearing completion on their first automated parking garage — a concept CEO and President Alan says will revolutionize development in built-out Los Angeles. Future residents at a Dasher/Lawless eight-unit apartment project in Sherman Oaks will be able to pull their car onto an orange pallet in the building and have their vehicle whisked away by electric motors to a secure parking space. When they are ready to leave, the system will deliver the car back to them facing outward so no backing up is required. The concept, Alan said, allows developers to pack more cars into less space, because space previously needed for ramps and driving is eliminated. “There is a big wave of automated parking because of the cost of building now — buying more land, environmental regulations and the additional building costs for expanding projects in urban areas,” Alan said. The system allowed Dasher/Lawless to increase the number of two bedroom units from four to eight. “You can park twice as many cars than you can in a traditional garage or use half the footprint,” said Michael O’Bryan, vice president of design and development at Dasher/Lawless and Auto Parkit. The 12,000 square-foot apartment building on Burbank Boulevard is scheduled to open for leasing in May, Alan said. He added the project will also serve as a marketing tool for Auto Parkit, a separate firm he started five years ago to build automotive parking garages. Alan said the system will be the first of its kind in the city of Los Angeles. The company has projects planned throughout Los Angeles, including in Burbank and Valley Glen. It is also working on a system for Heathrow Airport in London that would provide 2,000 stalls, the company said. For a city with often times debilitating traffic, Alan sees a large potential market. “Everybody in this town needs parking and there is nowhere to put it,” he said. — Andrew Khouri
New Parking System Pulls Into Valley
