Parking Requirements for 
Medical Office Buildings
Research was conducted Fifty medical office buildings
(MOBs) located throughout the United
with the following States were studied to determine their park-
ing requirements. Following is a summary
key objectives: collect of key findings and conclusions:
• A total of 4.5 parking spaces per 1,000
primary and secondary gross square feet (GSF) of building
area should be provided for MOBs.
data describing medical This recommendation includes an ef-
fective supply cushion of spaces; this
office building parking cushion is equal to about 10 percent
of the supply and is necessary for a
needs; identify municipal number of reasons, including but not
limited to user convenience and to
code requirements compensate for the temporary loss
of spaces due to construction, main-
for those buildings tenance and snow removal.
• The number of cars parked at MOBs
surveyed; and summarize during the 11 a.m. peak hour typically
falls short of both the parking supplies
findings by mean and and the number of parking spaces re-
quired by zoning ordinances.
85th-percentile values. - This suggests that most zoning
ordinances require more parking
Providing 4.5 spaces spaces than most MOBs need.
- Ninety-two percent of this study’s
per 1,000 gross square MOBs are legally required to pro-
vide more parking spaces than were
feet of building space occupied during the peak hour.
- Sixty percent of this study’s
is generally sufficient MOBs must comply with zoning
ordinances that exceed this study’s
to meet medical office recommended parking capacity.
• The observed mean peak-hour park-
building peak-hour ing accumulation rate for 50 MOBs
is 3.23 spaces per 1,000 GSF of oc-
needs. cupied building area. This is lower
than the 3.53 spaces reported in
the Institute of Trans-
By John W. Dorsett, AICP and Mark J. Lukasick portation Engineers’
(ITE) Parking Genera-
tion, 3rd Edition and the 4.11 spaces
reported in ITE’s Parking Generation,
2nd Edition.1,2
• The observed 85th-percentile peak-
hour parking accumulation rate for 50
MOBs is 4.21 parked cars per 1,000
GSF of occupied building area.
40
study purpose
The development of MOBs contin-
ues in response to the aging population
and consequent increases in demands
for health care. One particular challenge
for planners is to properly determine the
number of parking spaces needed for
MOBs. In response to this challenge, a
study was conducted to document the
parking requirements of MOBs. A major
component of this study included new
primary research.
Most municipal zoning ordinances
base MOB parking requirements on the
amount of GSF rather than the number
of physicians, employees, or patients/
visitors. This study gathers data from vari-
ous MOBs, calculates parking demand
ratios per 1,000 GSF and provides a data-
base that can be used for project planning
purposes. This research project had the
following objectives:
• To identify and reference historical
MOB peak-hour parking demand
ratios;
• To create a database of MOB peak-hour
parking demand ratios that employ the
number of parking spaces needed per
1,000 GSF, the variable most com-
monly referenced by municipal codes;
• To compile a comparative list of mu-
nicipal code requirements for those
MOBs surveyed; and
• To summarize findings by mean and
85th-percentile values.
Meeting these objectives provides infor-
mation useful to planners who project
MOB parking demand.
Methodology
Prior to beginning primary research,
secondary sources of data were researched.
The second and third editions of Park-
ing Generation contained a summary of
several MOB parking demand studies.
To complete the primary research, the
following steps were performed:
ITE Journal / August 2007
 • A sample of 50 stand-alone MOBs
located throughout the United States
was selected.
• The following variables were re-
searched for each MOB:
- city and state;
- number of floors;
- building GSF;
- building occupancy rate;
- number of suites;
- municipal code parking require-
ments (number of spaces per 1,000
GSF); and
- parking space supply.
• The number of parking spaces required
by zoning ordinance was calculated.
• The supply of parking spaces was
inventoried and the number of
spaces provided per 1,000 GSF was
calculated.
• The number of parked vehicles dur-
ing the peak time of the day was
counted.
• The number of spaces per 1,000 GSF
was determined based on the occu-
pied building GSF and the numbers
of vehicles counted at the peak ac-
cumulation or occupancy.
• The mean and 85th percentile, by
spaces per 1,000 GSF of occupied
building space, were summarized for
the following:
- code requirements;
- parking space supply; and
- observed peak-hour parking veyed were located in the following states:
occupancy.
ITE Parking Generation Rates
ITE updated its Parking Generation pub-
lication in 2004. Table 1 provides a com-
parison between these published data and
the primary data collected for this study.
Data Collection results
Number of Buildings by State
Fifty free-standing MBOs were sur-
veyed on Mondays and Wednesdays from
March through August, during what was
believed to represent typical activity lev-
els for MOBs. Suburban locations were
selected to allow a clean computation of
the parking demand ratio, without the
influence of adjacent land uses present in
an urban environment and without the
influence of mass transit.
A convenience sample was drawn based
ITE Journal / August 2007 
Table 1. Parking ratio comparison.
Walker ITE Parking Generation,
data collection 3rd Edition
Peak period 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
2:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Number of study sites 50 18
Average size of study sites (GFA) 62,427 43,000
Average peak-period parking demand 3.23 spaces per 1,000 sf 3.53 spaces per 1,000 sf
85th-percentile parking demand 4.21 spaces per 1,000 sf 4.30 spaces per 1,000 sf
1.38–8.90 spaces 2.34–5.35 spaces
Range of rates
per 1,000 sf per 1,000 sf
Note: Peak occurred mid-week.
10
9
8
7
7 7
6 6
6
5 5
5
4 4
4
3
2 2
2
1
1 1
0
0
0– 10,001– 20,001– 30,001– 40,001– 50,001– 60,001– 70,001– 80,001– 90,001– 100,001 200,001 over
10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 90,000 100,000 – – 300,001
200,000 300,000
Building square footage
Figure 1. Number of MOBs by size.
on geographic proximity of individuals shown in Figure 1, about three-fourths
collecting the data to the MOBs. Twenty of the buildings surveyed were 70,000
of the MOBs surveyed were located in GSF or less.
Illinois. The remaining 30 properties sur-
Municipal Code Requirements
California (6), Florida (3), Georgia (3), Thirty-one locations, or 62 percent
Indiana (9), Massachusetts (3), Minne- of those MOBs surveyed were required
sota (3) and Pennsylvania (3). by code to provide 4.01 or more parking
The average number of parking spaces spaces per 1,000 GSF. Table 2 illustrates
per 1,000 GSF ranged from 2.78 for the the number of parking spaces required by
three Georgia MOBs studied to 5.60 for municipal zoning ordinances.
the three Pennsylvania MOBs surveyed.
Following is the supply of parking spaces Parking Supply
per 1,000 GSF, by state: Each individual MOB’s parking sup-
• Illinois: 4.47 ply was inventoried. Out of the 50 MOBs
• Florida: 5.24 surveyed, 27 facilities, or approximately
• Indiana: 5.36 54 percent, supplied 4.01 or more parking
• Minnesota: 4.39 spaces (rounded to nearest whole number)
• California: 3.20 per 1,000 GSF.
• Pennsylvania: 5.60 Figure 2 illustrates the number of
• Georgia: 2.78 parking spaces supplied per 1,000 GSF.
• Massachusetts: 4.69 Most of the facilities surveyed provided
or nearly provided the number of code-
Number of Buildings by Size required spaces. In some cases, the park-
The MOBs identified then were com- ing space supply fell short of the code
pared on the basis of occupied GSF. As requirement.
41
Parking Demand peak hour. These counts were compared studies over the last 30 years. A majority
Parking occupancy counts were taken to the occupied GSF of the building. The of the facilities surveyed had peak-hour
for the MOB parking spaces to determine peak hour was determined based on the parking occupancies of 4.0 or fewer spaces
parking utilization during the 11 a.m. consultants’ experience with hundreds of per 1,000 GSF. This statistic fell signifi-
cantly below both the legally required
Table 2. Municipal code requirements for MOBs. number of parking spaces and the ob-
served parking supplies.
Number of parking spaces required by code Number of facilities The following shows the total number
1.00 to 2.00 / 1,000 sf 1 2 percent of parking facilities surveyed (at the peak
2.01 to 3.00 / 1,000 sf 6 12 percent hour) by range of occupied parking spaces
3.01 to 4.00 / 1,000 sf 12 24 percent per 1,000 GSF:
4.01 to 5.00 / 1,000 sf 20 40 percent
5.01 to 6.00 / 1,000 sf 6 12 percent Spaces per Number of
6.01 to 7.00 / 1,000 sf 1 2 percent 1,000 GSF Facilities
7.01 to 8.00 / 1,000 sf 2 4 percent 1.00 to 2.00 7
8.01 to 9.00 / 1,000 sf 1 2 percent 2.01 to 3.00 18
9.01 to 10.00 / 1,000 sf 1 2 percent 3.01 to 4.00 14
50 100 percent
4.01 to 5.00 9
5.01 to 6.00 0
10.01 to 11.00/1,000 sf 1

9.01 to 10.00 / 1,000 sf 0

6.01 to 7.00 1
8.01 to 9.00 / 1,000 sf 2 7.01 to 8.00 0
7.01 to 8.00 / 1,000 sf 2
8.01 to 9.00 1
6.01 to 7.00 / 1,000 sf 2

5.01 to 6.00 / 1,000 sf 8

4.01 to 5.00 / 1,000 sf 12

Figure 3 shows each parking facility’s
3.01 to 4.00 / 1,000 sf 14
parking demand in descending order. Ob-
2.01 to 3.00 / 1,000 sf 7
served peak-hour parking demand for the
1.00 to 2.00 / 1,000 sf 2 sample ranged from 1.38 to 8.90 spaces per
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 1,000 GSF. The observed mean and median
Number of parking facilities
peak-hour parking demand rates were 3.23
and 3.03, respectively. The 85th-percentile
Figure 2. Parking supply provided by MOBs. rate was 4.21 spaces per 1,000 GSF.

50
49 6.79
8.90 ConclusionS
48
47
46
4.72
4.64
4.60
Fifty MOBs were surveyed as part of
45
44
43
4.50
4.41
4.28
this research. Following is a summary of
42
41
4.06
4.05 findings:
40 4.01
39
38 3.60
3.85
• The most common code requirement
37 3.55
36
35
3.48
3.43
for the MOBs surveyed was 5.0 park-
34
33
32
3.43
3.39
3.30
ing spaces per 1,000 GSF. Nineteen
31
30
29
3.27
3.26
3.17
MOBs, or 38 percent of the sample,
28
27
26
3.10
3.08
3.07
were required to provide 5.0 parking
25
24
3.00
2.99 spaces per 1,000 GSF.
23 2.97
22
21
2.94
2.89
• The mean and median number of
20 2.89
19
18
2.82
2.76
parking spaces provided per 1,000
17
16
15
2.73
2.70
2.68
GSF was 4.50 and 4.39, respectively.
14
13
12 2.39
2.65
2.55 • ITE calculated a mean demand of
11
10
2.33
2.30 3.53 parking spaces per 1,000 GSF
9 2.22
8
7 1.89
2.14
(Parking Generation, 3rd Edition)
6 1.83
5
4
1.80
1.69
compared to 3.23 parking spaces per
3 1.53
2
1
1.48
1.38
1,000 GSF found in this study.
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 • ITE’s 85th-percentile demand of 4.30
Observed parking demand (spaces per 1,000 sf) parking spaces per 1,000 GSF (Park-
ing Generation, 3rd Edition) is compa-
Figure 3. Observed peak-hour parking demand by MOB. rable to the 85th-percentile peak-hour

42 ITE Journal / August 2007

 EmpCtrThirdV.qxp 12/7/2005 10:17 AM Pa

MEDICAL OFFICE
Peak-hour parking spaces occupied vs. 1,000 GSF
Occupied building area on a weekday between 10 a.m. and 12 noon
PARKING GENERATION RATES
Standard Average 1,000 GSF
Average rate Range of rates deviation Number of studies occupied building area
3.23 1.38–8.90 1.27 50 62,427

1,400

y = 3.1859x – 5.4443
1,200
P = peak parking spaces occupied

R 2 = 0.9379
1,000

800
Advertise Your
600 Positions Available
400
` Through ITE
To Advertise a Position in
200
ITE Journal or on the Web
0 ■ Visit the ITE Web site at jobs.ite.org.
0.0 50.0 100.0 150.0 200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0 400.0 You can easily post an ad in the
Journal or on the Web with the click of
1,000 GSF occupied building area your mouse.
■ The deadline to post an ad in ITE
Figure 4. Data plot and statistical summary. Journal is the 8th of the month before
publication date (for example, May 8
observation of 4.21 parking spaces per for the June issue). The magazine is
mailed the first week of the month,
1,000 GSF found in this study.
with subscribers receiving it sometime
• Based on these findings, designing John W. Dorsett, in the second week.
parking facilities to accommodate AICP, is a senior vice
■ Web ads run for 30 days and begin as
4.5 spaces per 1,000 GSF of build- president and share-
soon as payment is received. Web
ing space should be sufficient to meet holder of Walker Parking ads can be modified, deleted or
the peak-hour parking demands Consultants. He directs the renewed at any time.
of most medical office buildings. firm’s Consulting Resources ■ For details on pricing, discounts, post-
This recommendation is an 85th- Group, which specializes ing and more, please contact
percentile recommendation, which is in parking-related engagements including access Christina Garneski, Marketing Sales
consistent with other recognized and and revenue control systems, airport landside Manager at 202-289-0222 ext. 128,
or cgarneski@ite.org, or visit the Web
published industry standards, includ- planning, financial, functional design planning, site today!
ing the landmark November 2005 operations and traffic engineering.
Shared Parking publication issued by
the Urban Land Institute and the Mark J. Lukasick
International Council of Shopping is a parking consultant
Centers. Sixty percent, or 30 of the with Walker Parking
50 MOBs, are located in municipali- Consultants. He has more
ties that now require more parking than 20 years of experience
than the recommended 4.5 spaces in hands-on parking
per 1,000 GSF. n operations and parking
consulting. He may be contacted at mark.lukasick@
References walkerparking.com with any questions pertaining
1. Parking Generation, 3rd Edition. Wash- to this article.
ington, DC, USA: Institute of Transportation
Engineers (ITE), 2004. * Note: Opinions expressed herein are those
2. Parking Generation, 2nd Edition. Washing- of the authors and do not reflect official ITE
ton, DC: ITE, 1987. Journal policy unless so stated.

ITE Journal / August 2007  43