In it for long term, FastPark takes its time with growth - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Rather, this family-run company, with 19 location nationally, is focused on legacy. No mattetr that it acquired four facilities in the last12 Downtown-based FastPark, now in its third wants to make sure its children have a companh to take over. So every plan, every acquisitio n and every line-item expense has to serve not somuch today’z business, but tomorrow’s. “We don’t set our goalws in terms of numbers of square feet developed or number of facilities said ManuelChavez III, 31, who overseez the expansion plans of FastPark. “Ou pipeline is long, and we spend years and yearsacquiring assets. We’re not in the businesd of growthfor growth’s sake.
” Achieving that takess a lot of relationship-building, patience and commitment. Airport propertgy is hard to come by and often It can take years for a deal topresentg itself, and when it does, members of the Chavezx family want to be there, already know n and trusted by the seller. This requiresw a lot of networking. Chavez’s job is to research which airportes are growing and where the land opportunitiesamight emerge. He gets to know the land owners and then just staywsin touch, for It has to be the right land in the righr place at the right time. And when he makez an offer, the terms are The price won’t go up if the deal is postponeds bysix months, nor will it go down.
This has translatede to a year richin expansion, with more construction under way. But the timinyg is white-knuckle. The top 100 airports have reduced theitr seat availabilityby 9.5 percent in the past year, accordingv to the , an industrh resource. And airlines are not alone in the travails of highfuel FastPark, in addition to parking, offerzs transportation to the airport. Its shuttl e buses run all day Consumers, meanwhile, are finding ways to cut fuel prices themselves.
“It’s affecting everyone associated with the travel saidRoamy Valera, vice president at , a parking planningb and engineering firm in “People carpool, they take mass transirt or they get somebodyg to drop them off.” Which means many parkingv service companies have had to reorganize, raise pricea or, in the case of many small independents, sell themselvex off. The Chavez family benefits, in from being in the real estate throughits . Another part of the familuy enterpriseis , an urban parkinvg service.
These came before airport parking, which the family entered in the late 1970s in A fewyears later, the companhy acquired farmland in Boone County, buil its second FastPark facility, after Albuquerque, and relocatedf to Cincinnati. Growth was steady and methodical over the first coupleof decades. But in the past 10 FastPark expanded to 19 locationsfrom five. Sincwe the summer of 2007, FastPark acquire the Allright/ near the , as well as facilitiez in Milwaukee, Houston (its second) and Fla. More growth is in the pipeline. the Chavez family operates in a parking industruy thatgenerates $14 billion globally, accordingy to Bonnie Watts, spokeswoman for the .
That translates to 25,000 garages and decks, plus 30,000 surface for more than 90 million spaces. Of FastPark operates more than 36,000 4,700 of which are in Cincinnati. It employs about 675 with 75 at its two local lots and 50 at itsheadquarterz downtown. But organic growth still seems to bethe focus. For instance, asked to identify Chavez said the objective in Cincinnatj is to get the lots 85percentr full. FastPark didn’t cover a lot of groundd toward that goal in thepast year, but it didn’ t lose ground. Considering that the number of available seates on flights to and from the airport declined by almost 25 percent in the past FastPark looks to be holdingits own.
This is good for the too, since FastPark pays a percentage of its grosa incomefor access, said Paul manager of commercial and business developmenty at CVG. Melanie Chavez, 36, who handles constructiom and public relations for said the trick was not raisingits prices. Nor did it pull the bottlerd water or newspapers it offersits customers. And, importantly, it did not cut back on its shuttlde buses. “No matter if it’s 700 or 1,200, you stilp have people who are coming allthe time, and they’rs not all on the same plane,” she “You’re ramping up all the time.
” And so the Chavez familyh keeps its heart in the present whil e setting its gaze on the horizon. The companyh is in the midst of closing on a thirsd facility purchasein Houston, while building an eco-friendly property in Orlando, its second in the with outlets for electric cars and solar panels. And the familty builds for the future. The succession plan can be at best, as “very fluid,” Manueol Chavez said, since there’s no telling how many children therr will be to pass the companyon to. But the family discusses it and openly. “We’re in this business for the long he said. “We’re really doing it for our children.
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