58 |BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION | October 2019REEF TECHNOLOGY WANTS TO TURN PARKING
FACILITIES INTO URBAN MOBILITY HUBS
The company currently operates 4,500 parking lots in 25 markets across North America.
|GREATSOLUTIONS | By David Malone, Associate Editor
WITH THE RISE OF THE
ON-DEMAND ECONOMY,
the need for parking lots
and garages to be a space
for nothing more than stor-
ing vehicles is beginning to
wane. But instead of trying
to phase parking lots and
garages out completely,
REEF Technology, the
largest parking network
in North America, has un-
veiled plans to adapt these
spaces into tech-forward,
urban mobility hubs to
deliver on-demand goods
and services.
The company, which is
supported by SoftBank
Vision Fund and Mubadala
Investment Company, plans
to leverage the high-densi-
ty, high-activity location of
its parking lots and parking
structures to create a ro-
bust ecosystem to connect
people to the goods and
services they want.
A key component of
these logistics hubs is the
last-block, delivery-only
REEF Kitchens. Restau-
rants can partner with
REEF Kitchens to open and
expand their businesses
while also providing more
food options and faster
delivery at a lower cost to
customers. The centralized
location of the REEF hubs
will help extend the reach
of restaurants without
burdening the restaurants’main kitchen. Additionally,
REEF has partnered with
delivery services such as
Uber Eats, DoorDash, Post-
mates, and Grubhub, with
couriers on site so deliver-
ies will reach customers
more quickly and fresher
than before.
The kitchens are housed
in proprietary containers
capable of accommodat-
ing one to fi ve restaurant
brands or concepts.
Restaurants can run opera-
tions directly on contract
with REEF to stage and
prepare delivery-only menu
items. REEF Kitchens have
successfully launched in
Miami and London, with
plans to open several
hundred more in NorthAmerica and the U.K.
REEF has also partnered
with electric bike and
scooter rental companies,
on-demand aviation busi-
nesses, and peer-to-peer
car rentals. Rideshare car
buffering zones, where driv-
ers can access services
like car detailing and main-
tenance, will exist within
the hub.
REEF claims that its
urban mobility hub concept
will future-proof its park-
ing structures, while also
addressing many of the
major obstacles all cities
face: congestion, pollution,
high costs for businesses
to expand, and residents’
growing desire for their
goods and services to bedelivered quickly.
Not bad for something
that, in the past, was just
a fl at piece of asphalt
or concrete for housing
vehicles.CaptionA key component of REEF’s urban
mobility hub is REEF Kitchens,
delivery-only kitchens that can
be leased by local restaurants to
expand their reach. The hubs will
offer a variety of services (below).REEF TECHNOLOGY