Peak day parking count was the reason a hybrid tenant renewed at a bump
Small position in a 1990s suburban office, 48,000 sf, three tenants, parking at 5.1 spaces per 1,000 sf. The thing I did before investing that I hadn't seen anyone else do: I asked the property manager for badge or gate counts by day of week for the prior year, and where those didn't exist I paid someone $600 to sit in the lot and count cars at 10am and 2pm for three weeks.
The pattern was what everyone assumes and almost nobody measures. Monday and Friday ran around 34 percent of the lot. Tuesday through Thursday ran 78 to 91 percent, and on two Wednesdays it was full with people parked on the grass verge.
That number decides things. A hybrid tenant doesn't need less space in proportion to their attendance, because everyone comes in on the same three days and the office has to hold the peak. It also means a building at 3.5/1,000 in the same submarket physically cannot serve a firm with this attendance shape, and there are several of those nearby.
The largest tenant, 19,000 sf, renewed at $23.50 from $21.75, five years, $28/sf of TI and four months free. Net effective is roughly $19.40. They looked at two other buildings, both nicer inside, both short on parking on a Wednesday. The broker told the sponsor afterward that parking was the deciding item.
What I'd keep: measuring the peak day rather than the average. Average occupancy across a week is a number that hides the constraint that actually drives a renewal decision. What I'd watch: if attendance shifts to four days, this building tips from adequate to short, and the same fact that won the renewal turns around on you.