Those tired of hunting for a parking spot at the St. Johns Town Center, and who are willing to pay, now have another option.
Miami-based MyPark and Simon, which owns the St. Johns Town Center, have teamed up on a smartphone app that lets shoppers reserve prime location spaces in advance.
The service is launching Friday. Reservations costs $3 for the first two hours and $3 for each additional hour, with 17 spaces available around the outdoor shopping center:
- 4 spaces by the Apple store
- 8 spaces by Dillard’s
- 5 spaces by Ted’s Montana Grill and near DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse
For MyPark, this will be its first installation that provides parallel parking spaces.
The service will feature “forward-in, forward-out parking,” where visitors can drive thru a marked lane, tap “Let Me In” on the app to lower a device, and drive forward to the “sign and stop” mark to park. Then when exiting, the visitor only has to bear right and drive forward.
“MyPark’s expansion into Jacksonville is a testament to the continued growth and success of the self-parking service in the state,” said Luis Mayendia, President & CEO of MyPark.
“With locations in south, central and, now north Florida, MyPark is providing locals and visitors a premier parking experience at various malls and public garages,” said Mayendia, who adds shoppers can make a future parking spot reservation up to six months in advance at the St. Johns Town Center.
The CEO said he hopes to expand the service to other First Coast Locations. "Absolutely. There’s a lot of interest. It’s been very well received because of the convenience it provides.”
MyPark is available at shopping destinations in several other Florida cities including Miami and Orlando as well as in Puerto Rico, New Jersey, Georgia and Minnesota. The company is offering a free trial offer in Jacksonville to first time users with the promo code "MYPARK1." The app is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The St. Johns Town Center also reserves two prime parking spots near the Cheesecake Factory for drivers of electric vehicles. That service is separate from MyPark.
Those spots are free but users have to pay to charge their vehicles while parked via the Blink charging network. That cost is 39 cents per kilowatt hour for Blink members and 49 cents per kilowatt hour for non-members, according to plugshare.com.
MyPark’s on-demand parking service is part of a growing smartphone on-demand trend in Jacksonville and nationwide.
Amazon now offers same-day delivery via smartphone and PC orders in Jacksonville. Some First Coast area movie theaters also offer on-demand smartphone ticket sales and seat reservations.
There are also a growing number of on-demand shopping services for grocery delivery such as Instacart and restaurant food delivery through services such as Grubhub.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
