So you think parking garages generate revenue for their owners? Let's examine this point. It costs on average $59 a square foot to build a parking garage.
http://www.fixr.com/costs/build-parking-garage So, let's say you need about 700 square feet for each parking space [[the space, plus access to move into the spot, roads inside the garage, ramp, etc.). So, a 100 parking spots x 700 square feet x $59 is $4.13m. So if a vacant parcel of land for a garage bought from a gouging land speculator is $2m, that comes to $6.13m. Let's say operating costs [[insurance, lighted ceilings, etc.), security surveillance, maintenance, taxes is $100K a year. So, if an investor was looking at a 10% return on their investment, this garage would have to generate $713K a year to generate a decent return for the owner. That's $7,130 a year per spot or around $600 a month [[assuming it's full), which is about $475 more per month than the Compuware garage charges.
What's the break even point? Well if a commercial mortgage for a garage in Detroit is 8%, you would need $590K a year or around $490 a month per spot just to break even on your mortgage payments and expenses [[assuming it's full).
So please explain to me how a garage makes money for its owners as a standalone business? It has to be subsidized by a neighboring business [[ex. the compuware building subsidizing the compuware garage) or by taxpayers [[through grants, subsidies, etc.) because it's always a money loser.