Paid Parking at Reston Town Center Moved to September Start

Paid parking at Reston Town Center will be pushed back to September, Boston Properties representatives have told store owners.

Reston Town Center was supposed to go to paid parking ($2 an hour) on weekdays beginning Aug. 1. Weekends and special events will remain free.

The app-based pay system is now available for download. Boston Properties, which owns the town center, says it is going from free parking at its seven garages to a paid system in order to cut down on parking misuse by commuters.

Town Center representatives say many people are leaving their cars at RTC all day and hopping shuttles to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro. Many RTC patrons say they will avoid the town center when paid parking goes into effect.

Meanwhile, Boston Properties also told merchants “we are also working on another innovative element of our plan which will provide for an even safer place to live, work and shop – we are very excited about this element of our plan which we, unfortunately, are not able to discuss publicly at this time due to business disclosure issues.”

Here is the email BP sent to Reston Town Center tenants on Tuesday:

Tenants,

As you know, Reston Town Center is committed to enhancing the parking experience in its world-class, award-winning community by introducing technologies that will enable a paid-for, streamlined parking model. However, we are also working on another innovative element of our plan which will provide for an even safer place to live, work and shop – we are very excited about this element of our plan which we, unfortunately, are not able to discuss publicly at this time due to business disclosure issues.

Reston Town Center is a community destination, offering and exciting place to work with more than 50 shops, 30 restaurants, an 11-screen cinema and open-air pavilion, luxury residences, and a four-diamond Hyatt Regency hotel. A world-class working and customer experience in a safe, family-friendly environment is always our top priority.

That being said, we have decided to move the paid parking launch date at least 30 days to the month of September 2016. We anticipate we will release more information about this comprehensive strategy later this month. Again, we are moving the date to ensure that we are implementing uniform comprehensive strategy which advances our overall, historical mission.

Thank you very much for your continued patience and understanding; we pledge to provide even more detail when we are able to do so.

Boston Properties Property Management