Parking Just Became Easier at the Natick Mall

The Natick Mall has parking for more than 7,100 vehicles, but during the busy holiday shopping season it can seem like there are no parking spots available.

The Natick Mall has installed a new system called Park Assist, which it hopes will help customers and employees have an easier time to park.

“It’s essentially a parking navigation system,” said Jennifer Kearney, Natick Mall senior general manager, on Saturday. “The goal is there to be no frustration, no driving up and down the rows looking for a spot. Now you can know if there’s a spot there before you even try to look.”

Park Assist debuted on Black Friday, the busiest Black Friday in three years, she said.

How it works is, every parking garage has a lighted alert board – red if the lot is full and green if the lot has spots. It also has the number of spots available in each lot, she said. The alert board is updated in real time, meaning that if a car pulls out of a spot, the number in instantly updated.

“There are sensors throughout the parking lot and it updates it right away,” Kearney said. “The employees who work in the mall love it, too.”

One of those employees, Jim Brovelli, who works at Temper-Pedic, said Park Assist, and the new lighting the mall also installed in the parking garages, makes things a lot easier for him to get to work. “The flow seems to be a lot better,” he said. “I like that you can see down the row and see if there’s a green light or a red light so you know if there’s parking. The lighting is good, too. It just makes it feel safer.”

Peter Quigley of Natick said he did not notice the new Park Assist system when he pulled into the parking garage near Sears. He said he has been parking in that garage for years and it’s a habit. But, he said, he thinks the system will be good for customers. “The mall is something compared to the mall in the past,” he said, speaking of its growth.

Park Assist is not new for General Growth Properties, the mall’s owners. The company has installed it in other malls across the country, including earlier this year at the Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island. It took about seven months to install the system. Kearney said she did not have an exact cost for the project. “It was pricey, but the capital investment was worth it for our customers,” she said.

About Park Assist 

Park Assist® is the parking industry’s leading camera-focused innovator with the most camera based parking guidance installations in the world. Our technology helps customers effortlessly find parking spaces in real-time as well as find their cars when they return. Simultaneously, we provide parking operators with tools to improve customer satisfaction, create new revenue opportunities, realize greater operational control, capture parker analytics and expand CCTV capabilities. Park Assist is part of the TKH Group (Euronext: TWEKA), a $1.6 billion publicly traded company headquartered in the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.parkassist.com.

About Natick Mall

Natick Mall is a greater Boston’s destination of choice for family-friendly shopping and dining. It allows visitors to explore over 250 stores in the heart of the Golden Triangle shopping districts, including numerous children’s retailers. For more information, visit www.natickmall.com