Owner Can Enforce Parking Restrictions

After a pharmacy tenant moved into a center, other tenants complained that the pharmacy's customers were taking up too many parking spaces in the center's premium parking area. In response, the owner issued parking restrictions that allocated a set number of parking spaces to each tenant based on the size of its store. The pharmacy was allotted six parking spaces. The pharmacy asked a court to block the owner from enforcing the parking regulations, claiming that they violated the lease and would hurt its business.

A federal court refused to block the owner from enforcing the regulations. The center's tenants had an expectation of sharing the premium parking area, but that expectation was dashed when the pharmacy's customers started using up the parking spaces, the court noted. Because the owner had a duty to ensure that its tenants' spaces were suitable for their needs, the owner had “good cause” for issuing and enforcing the parking restrictions, said the court. Also, the lease's clear terms let the owner impose such restrictions. Plus, “nothing in the lease guarantees [the pharmacy] full and unfettered use of the premium parking area,” said the court. And the restrictions were reasonable because they were based on objective criteria—that is, parking spaces were allocated based on the amount of square footage each tenant leased, the court added.

• Pharmacy 101 Ltd. v. AMB Property, LP: No. 05-1386 Section: “A”(3), 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39337 (E.D.La. 6/14/06).