Where should you park in Charlotte? How to find a space in busy neighborhoods
With more folks returning to working in offices and venturing out to enjoy events, restaurants and more, parking in Charlotte’s entertainment and business districts can quickly become a hot commodity.
Street parking, surface lots and parking garages are available for varying rates, but they can fill up fast. If you want to plan ahead, there are multiple services that break down where spaces are, how many are available and what you’ll pay to park.
And if you’re looking for something to use on a regular basis, some services also offer monthly rates for reserved spots.
Here’s what to know about finding parking in some of Charlotte’s busiest neighborhoods:
Place to park in Charlotte
Uptown Charlotte
Charlotte Center City Partners offers a map of various surface lots and parking garages in uptown and throughout center city, including the address and how many spots there are in the lot or garage.
Live tracking of how many spots are open is available for some locations.
You can check the tracker at charlottecentercity.org/transportation/parking.
Epicentre
The Epicentre complex, located on College Street, between Trade and Fourth streets, also has a four-story parking garage.
There are garage entrances at both 4th Street and Trade Street. The regular rate is $5 for the first hour and a half, then $4 for each additional half hour “or fraction of.” And $28 is the maximum for up to 24 hours.
There is an “early bird rate” of $14 if you park before 8:30 a.m. and leave before 6 p.m. Rates may be different during special events.
Epicentre also offers valet parking Thursday through Sunday, on College Street.
You can find more details at epicentrenc.com/parking-directions.
LAZ Parking
LAZ Parking oversees about 16 parking garages and surface lots, primarily in and around uptown.
You can check availability and prepay for a spot at lazparking.com/local/charlotte.
Some of the sites also offer a monthly rate, and you can also check requirements and rates for those spots and sign up for one on the LAZ Parking website.
Park It
The city of Charlotte’s Park It program oversees about 1,200 on-street parking spaces “throughout uptown, South End, Elizabeth, NoDa and Commonwealth Avenue in Plaza Midwood.”
These metered spots cost $1 per hour, and you can pay using the ParkIt mobile app.
Residents in First Ward, Third Ward and Fourth Ward can also apply for the city’s Residential Parking Permit Program, which provides parking decals to cover on-street parking at “specified hours.”
You can find more details on both programs at charlottenc.gov/Transportation/Programs.
Preferred Parking
Preferred Parking offers both daily and monthly parking options in surface lots and garages in uptown, NoDa and South End.
You can visit preferredparking.com/dailyparking_clt to check availability and see rates for hourly and daily parking at lots and garages.
And you can check which lots have availability for a monthly rate and register for a spot at preferredparking.com/g31/findcityparking.aspx.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 2:12 PM.
