FORT WORTH, Texas — The next time you visit University Park Village shopping center in Fort Worth, you’ll notice a change: Paid parking spaces have moved in.
The shopping center has rolled out paid parking, known as Up Front Plus Parking spots, in its parking lot along South University Drive. While most of the lot remains free, nine of the parking spaces spread throughout the lot have begun an hourly charge.
“Who wants to pay? First tollways, now parking spaces,” Victoria Avila, a Fort Worth resident, said.
On Friday, Avila told WFAA she was upset by the paid spaces.
The paid parking spaces are located in front of retail stores Lululemon, Athleta, and restaurant Flower Child.
Marla Lee, who has shopped at the shopping center for years, hopes the paid parking won’t become lot-wide.
“I think it’s a deterrent,” Lee said. “This is Fort Worth, this is not Dallas. One of the things that has differentiated Fort Worth from Dallas is the fact that no matter where you go, if you’re going to go to a restaurant or retail store, you get to park for free.”
Signs are placed in each paid parking spot with a QR code, which prompts shoppers to pay between $4 and $10.
Jacob Medina, a food delivery driver, said his job requires him to park within close proximity to businesses. Paid parking spots make his job more difficult.
“It’s getting tougher and tougher to find parking that you don’t have to pay for,” Medina said. “It’s exhausting, honestly, to have to keep driving and find some place,” Medina said.
WFAA reached out to the shopping center’s owner Simon Property Group for more information, but did not hear back.
“If they think about doing it lot-wide there will be a turnover of business,” Lee said.
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