Valet parking claims airport wanted them out of business

John Howell
Posted 9/1/15

Airport Valet, which served Green Airport since 1993, is gone. The signs are still on Post Road, the site of the former Great House restaurant, as is the building, but since the macroburst storm of …

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Valet parking claims airport wanted them out of business

Posted

Airport Valet, which served Green Airport since 1993, is gone. The signs are still on Post Road, the site of the former Great House restaurant, as is the building, but since the macroburst storm of Aug. 4, a section of white awning lies crumpled on the asphalt. Weeds are starting to take over.

Airport Valet closed in July, and three weeks ago owner Bob Horlbogen issued a press release blaming the Rhode Island Airport Corporation for the company’s demise and indicating a suit would be brought against the agency.

His underlying claim is that RIAC is seeking to control virtually all airport-related parking, and to do that they are driving competitors out of business. And Horlbogen has a story to tell that he believes supports his assertion that RIAC has 82 percent of airport parking revenue.

“That’s not enough. They want it all,” he said in an interview last week.

In an interview Friday, Kelly Fredericks, RIAC president and CEO, called the basis of an Airport Valet suit “totally unfounded.” He did not dispute that RIAC is seeking to increase revenues.

“We are required to be as self-sufficient as possible,” he said.

He also said that RIAC agreements with off-airport vendors are comparable to those at other airports and “benchmarked with others.”

As RIAC president and CEO, he said, “I’d never be embarrassed to be in control of the bottom line.”

To take control and increase revenues, Horlbogen said RIAC hiked the cost of airport access agreements from a four to 12 percent surcharge and eliminated long-term contracts. Contracts are now on a month-to-month basis, which Horlbogen claims makes it difficult for companies doing business with the airport to forecast expenses and revenues.

Horlbogen’s story goes to a time when RIAC was planning for the extension of the runway protection zone of the shorter crosswind runway to meet Federal Aviation Administration safety standards. At that time, Airport Valet operated from about an acre on Airport Road and had agreements to park cars on about five acres nearby, which it leased. To meet the FAA requirement, the plan was to relocate the Post and Airport Road intersection to the north near the intersection of Hasbrouck Avenue. That would have required RIAC acquisition of properties on Airport Road, including Airport Valet.

“Starting approximately in mid-2009, Airport Valet was repeatedly told by RIAC that its business would have to be moved,” reads the release. “Through the years, on numerous occasions, Airport Valet met with the RIAC, along with other interested parties, to discuss the transfer of its property. It was always represented to Airport Valet that the RIAC’s acquisition of its parcel was imminent.”

Expecting a reconfiguration of the intersection and the loss of its Airport Road property, Airport Valet leased the former Great House site from New England Institute of Technology for $17,000 a month about five years ago and spent about $200,000 to make improvements to the property. Both RIAC and the city’s planning department opposed use of the NEIT land for parking, but the zoning board approved the petition.

City Planner William DePasquale believes off-airport land near the airport can have a better and higher use than parking.

“We don’t want to compete with long-term parking at the airport. We’re in this together,” he said yesterday, pointing out that success at the airport is in the interest of all Rhode Islanders.

On the other hand, there are parcels of airport-owned land he believes should return to the tax rolls. DePasquale has been working with RIAC to identify these properties, which are largely on Post Road and Main Avenue.

“[Airport] compatible land use helps us out and it helps the airport out,” DePasquale said.

Airport Valet was faced with carrying costs on the Airport Road property of about $10,000 a month, plus the expenses of the Post Road land.

Everything looked to be in place for the acquisition of the Airport Road property as part of the relocation of the intersection, as was the proposed plan. But that plan was scrapped and the required expansion of the runway rolloff area and protection zone is being accomplished by a less expensive, albeit $43.5 million, project to be completed by the end of this calendar year. Horlbogen claims RIAC continued to have an interest in buying his property, but only if Airport Valet went out of business.

Sale of the Airport Road land to someone other than the airport seemed like the next logical step.

He said in an attempt to attract interest, a national real estate firm was retained to market the parcel. The national firm approached the RIAC with a plan to combine properties along Airport Road as part of a proposed small commercial development. DePasquale was not aware of that proposal, but observed land on the north side of Airport Road in the vicinity of the Post Road intersection is “tough” because of access and egress. In addition, much of the property is within the runway protection zone and faces building height limitations.

“In response, RIAC emphatically disclosed that due to the subject properties’ proximity to the airport, it would not permit the proposed development,” reads the release.

Horlbogen said RIAC told him that because of the proximity to the runway and the runway protection zone, uses involving assemblages of people were prohibited. He said the possible uses were limited to parking cars and a kennel for dogs. He claims that RIAC, in effect, “has condemned” his land.

“They wanted us to die a slow death,” he said.

In response to questions relating to a suit, RIAC issued a copy of a statement made available to other news outlets.

In part, it reads: “The Rhode Island Airport Corporation believes the recent lawsuit filed by Airport Valet is completely without merit and will be vigorously defended in court. In particular, RIAC denies that it sought to put Airport Valet out of business or that any damages it claims to have suffered resulted from any action on RIAC’s part. As a governmental entity, RIAC is required to make its key planning decisions, like the runway extension, publicly known and available for review. It was well known that those plans can change at any time.”

Comments

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  • JohnStark

    I've used this service four times. Efficient, reliable, professional, cost effective. Can't have that.

    Tuesday, September 1, 2015 Report this

  • allent

    poor guy got reamed

    Tuesday, September 1, 2015 Report this

  • RISchadenfreude

    Enterprise finally got wise and made it cheaper to rent a car at the airport than at their location at the intersection of Post Rd. & Elmwood Ave.- it used to be considerably cheaper to take a cab or bus (or have family give you a lift) a couple of miles down the road to rent a car.

    RIAC has raised fees for airport services who have no choice but to pass the expense on to the consumer. RIAC reminds me of a scene in Goodfellas (I paraphrase): "So you want to run a business at the airport? **** you, pay me. Business is down and fees are up? **** you, pay me."

    Thursday, September 3, 2015 Report this

  • wwkvoter

    here's a good previous report on this with video:

    http://www.hummelreport.org/Stories/8.6.2015.riac2.html

    Thursday, September 3, 2015 Report this