INTERVIEWINTERVIEW

Interview

The iPark Advantage
An Interview withBill Lerner, Owner and President, iPark

Bill Lerner

EDITORS’ NOTE Bill Lerner is a 40-year veteran ofthe parking industry and has served as President
and CEO of Imperial Parking Systems since 1996.
The former company LPS established in 1960 byLerner’s father has been managed by Bill Lernersince 1978. He has overseen the company’s growthfrom a small family business to one of the New York
metropolitan area’s largest owner-operators of garages and parking facilities. Ushering in a new era
for Imperial Parking Systems, the company was
re-named iPark (iPark.com) in December 2013and has continuously grown with multiple acquisitions and sound investments. The focus, driven
by Bill Lerner, is to continue the growth propelledby exemplary customer relations and the advancement of the industry’s technologies throughiPark’s research and development unit.
Would you discuss the family culture thatis at the heart of iPark? How have you
maintained that feel as the company hasgrown?
I learned from my father very early on how
to treat the people that work for me, my team.
It’s so important and integral in creating an operation that gives good service to the end user,
the customer, because if the men in the field are
dissatisfied with the company and ownership,
they’re going to take it out on the customer andthat directly translates to the bottom line moving
in a negative direction.
How important is it to retain talent andgive them a career in an industry like this?
Unfortunately, in the parking industry,
there is a large turnover, though we have thelowest of any of our competition. We pay ourattendants a higher rate than our competition
and we do this for many reasons: service being the most important aspect. If someone isin a garage for several years, they get to know
customer habits.
We don’t have heavy transient daily business locations; we’re more in the residential
market.
If we find a person who is managerial material, we can put him in a garage, pay him
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above industry standard, and he stays there
year after year so he gets to know everybody’shabits.
When people meet the doorman of theirbuilding, often the same person is there for10 years and they develop a personal relationship with him. We like our attendants tocreate the same feeling where customers feel
comfortable, for instance, with leaving thingsin their cars.
If there is a large churn of manpower, ourpeople won’t know customers’ habits, and there
is much more disrespect by manpower in thegarage. This is not what we’re trying to achieve.
What made you feel the change inbrand from Imperial to iPark was the righttiming?
We saw the advent of a change to booking
online, just like what’s happening in the airline
and hotel industries, and that it would become
an integral part of our daily and monthly revenue. We wanted a name that was much morenavigable on the Internet.
Does that transition, while giving thecustomer an easier way to book, take away
the relationship that used to be key in theindustry?
It’s good for the customer because it’s driving down rates – there is more competition andthere are more discounts.
Someone driving in from out of town simply can choose one of my locations, book online, and hit “get directions,” and our site guides
the customer right to the door of our garage.
How much more growth can there bein the New York market for iPark?
There is still a tremendous amount of roomin the New York market. Many of our locations
are leased spaces so as our competitions’ leasespace expires, we are the company of choice
for many landlords. As leases have expired
for the competition, we have been fortunate topick up several of them.
We are presently exploring going into
other markets, like New Jersey. We would liketo expand out of the New York area into tristate areas like Philly, parts of Connecticut, andBoston and Washington. So we have many opportunities but we’re carefully considering allof them.
Are there certain consistencies in eachlocation?
By creating brand recognition, it means
all of our locations are painted the same, they

all have the same signage, and the employees
all have the same uniform, so customers know
they’re in an iPark location.
How hard is it to really differentiate in
the space?
It comes down to the front line, which ismanpower. We believe in paying our workers
better, everybody gets tips and bonuses, so they
can go home with a decent wage and not beforced to work another job – they can spend
time with their families. This differentiates us.
Does a focus on monthly or longer
term relationships drive your revenue?
Our business is presently 62 percent
monthly and 38 percent transient. There arecompanies that go the opposite way. In downturns, it tends to position us better because ourmonthlies tend to live in the building our garages are located in. Some people will have asecond car. But transient garages do much better in rising economies.
Are the outer boroughs of interest toyou?
We have a healthy presence in Brooklyn
and I believe the South Bronx will take off overthe next decade. We are also aware of what’s
happening in Long Island City and Bushwick.
We are due for a temporary downturn but, eventhrough that, we won’t see it get back to where
it was, although values will go backwards a bit.
Do you think your father would ever
have dreamed this brand would become
what it has?
My father was actually around to see muchof the growth and development. He passed
away just last year but I know he would be
proud of what we’ve accomplished together,and the plans the future holds for iPark.
In managing the growth of the business,
how challenging is it to budget your time?
It has become increasingly hard. I do havea great team that takes care of the everyday minutia. I meet with my team several times a week
but I’m primarily looking for new business, andmeeting with landlords and co-ops.
It’s also a business for which touch andfeel are important, so I like to stop into a coupleof garages every day when I’m in the city. As
we’ve gotten bigger, it has been hard to hit thewhole chain over a short period of time, but
over a period of two months, I make it to mostly
every garage to see what is going on, where
we can improve operationally, and I call in theteam and make changes.

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•VOLUME 39, NUMBER 2