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Horton Plaza curbs free parking

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Horton Plaza parkers beware: The days of free three-hour parking have expired.

Westfield, owner of the downtown shopping center, this week instituted a new policy that limits complimentary parking in its multi-level structure to just one hour — a sharp change from the three free hours that have long been in place.

With the new system, which went into effect on Wednesday, parking fees will jump to $2 for every 15 minutes after the first hour, or $8 an hour for a maximum $48. Nighttime rates, after 8 p.m., are $10 Sunday through Wednesday and $20 Thursday through Saturday.

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A few businesses, however, will offer more generous complimentary parking. 24 Hour Fitness and Jimbo’s, for example, will validate for two hours free parking, while the UA movie theaters will offer three hours, although it previously validated for four hours.

Westfield offered no explanation for why it was upping the cost of parking and would not respond to questions about what was fueling the change in policy. The change comes just five days after the Nordstrom department store announced it will be leaving the mall in August.

“These rates are consistent with and comparable to other retail destinations, area attractions, and local businesses throughout the Gaslamp Quarter and Downtown San Diego,” Westfield said in a statement released Thursday. “In fact, allowing one free hour of parking is a service virtually unmatched in similar nearby facilities.”

The mall owner pointed out that the one hour of free parking does not require any validation. Under the previous system, no proof of purchase was required for validation but consumers had to insert their ticket in an automated machine.

The change is the third time in as many years that Horton Plaza has tinkered with its parking program. In February 2013, Westfield began requiring a minimum $10 purchase in exchange for three hours of free parking. Less than eight months later, Westfield reversed course following considerable negative feedback and reinstated the free parking as long as customers self-validated at one of several validation machines within the mall.

The move by Westfield will likely come as a surprise to many people who have grown accustomed to Horton Plaza’s generous parking program that for years has been used by people frequenting downtown restaurants and businesses who aren’t necessarily patronizing the center’s tenants.

“It sucks,” said Travis Leighton, rushing out of the parking garage to the downtown courthouse. “But it’s probably cheaper than most other lots downtown.”

Isabel Eustaquio, who works in the East Village area and had used the garage to park while lunching with a friend nearby, said the limited free parking would likely discourage her from spending time perusing shops at Horton Plaza.

“This is very disappointing because sometimes I like to meet people here for work and then maybe browse at Macy’s, and now I’ll have to think twice about it,” she said.

Marsha Fernando, who was running an errand at a nearby jewelry shop outside the mall, acknowledged, a bit sheepishly, she was probably abusing what she said had been a generous parking policy.

But, she added, “There’s nothing here I can’t get at other malls, and it’s already a difficult place to get around in, so this (parking change) doesn’t help their cause.”

San Diego real estate consultant Gary London said he suspects Westfield saw the parking change as a way to quickly boost revenues at a time when there is growing demand for downtown parking.

“Parking is probably Horton Plaza’s greatest source of revenue, and the parking fee increase is their internal recognition that the demand for parking in the central downtown area is far greater than the current supply,” London said.

“The elephant in the room is that people will go to a business meeting downtown and then just use Horton Plaza to get their stamped validation. So they’re just trying to capture revenue from these same people. It really doesn’t take much more than an hour to shop at Horton Plaza these days. Horton Plaza has lost its retail appeal.”

lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-2251 Twitter: @loriweisberg

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