The operator that is transforming car parks into neighbourhood hubs
The humble car park has long served as a staple facility for retail destinations with the single function of providing a place for shoppers to safely park their vehicles whilst they visit their favourite brands.
Now, North America’s largest operator of mobility and logistics hubs, Reef Technology is seeking to redefine the way the UK thinks of its car parks, partnering with convenience and community focused shopping centre Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Capital & Regional (C&R), to bring its full suite of alternate uses and car park management systems to UK shopping centres for the first time.
The agreement’s pilot scheme, which initially covers the Company’s Luton and Wood Green assets, will see under-utilised elements of two of the C&R’s car parks and shopping centres transformed into mixed-use neighbourhood hubs that provide locally curated goods, services and experiences, with the ambition of enhancing the central role the shopping centres play in serving their local communities by satisfying the needs of the on-demand economy and creating new employment opportunities.
Reef’s intention is to fully leverage the centres’ proximity and potential as neighbourhood hubs to provide a range of innovative tech-enabled goods and services to the surrounding areas which may include: neighbourhood kitchens, urban farms, last mile logistics, and smart transit and eco-friendly commuting.
Lawrence Hutchings, chief executive of Capital & Regional, said the partnership arose from an awareness of the role its centres continue to play as physical destinations, and the need to innovate and embrace the benefits of technology to ensure they fulfil their potential to play a vital role in the growing digitalisation of local economies, which has accelerated in the last year.
“Reef is at the very forefront of delivering these services,” Hutchings explains. “Through this innovative new partnership [Reef] can leverage its technology, experience and environmentally friendly working practices from the U.S. and apply these to under-utilised space in our car parks and centres, transforming them into neighbourhood hubs that makes a positive contribution to the local community and economy.”
Turnkey Solutions
Head of Urban Innovation at Reef, Gordon Bronson, says that the idea or alternate uses in the car park was borne out of a realisation that cities are changing, and that urbanisation, the on-demand economy, rising real estate costs, and traffic congestion have negatively impacted cities for years.
“We believe that redesigning how we work, live and connect with our local communities starts with proximity,” says Bronson. “In other words, we’re transforming urban spaces, such as parking lots, into neighborhood kitchens, logistics hubs and healthcare facilities to address issues ranging from congestion and accessible mobility to sustainability.”
The Reef tech platform, coupled with a vast real estate portfolio in strategic urban centers, is designed to identify and alleviate some of the strains on the modern city, designing each urban space with the aim of connecting people to locally curated goods, services, and experiences.
Currently, Reef operates more than 5,000 locations globally. Among its installations and applications in the US are a logistics initiative, having partnered with DHL to pilot to ecofriendly cargo bikes deliveries in Miami; and healthcare provisions in partnership with Carbon Health, a technology-enabled healthcare provider, creating 100 pop-up Covid-19 testing clinics across twenty major markets.
One of its most successful alternate uses is the Neighbourhood Kitchen. Reef has partnered with over 100 brands across the platform, recently surpassing 200 kitchens across its network, with operators taking up approximately 250–300 square feet – roughly the size of 4 parking spaces.
Brands are given access to a distributed network of Neighborhood Kitchens, where Reef handles all costs, operations, and food preparation, providing a turnkey, zero-capital investment solution for restaurateurs looking to launch or scale their business.
Bronson says that the specific details of partnerships joining the Reef ecosystem through Neighborhood Kitchens is not a one-size fits all model: “We work with a variety of different independent, small local entrepreneurs as well as major national brands, and customize our partnerships based on individual needs and market demands.
“Just as the internet and the digital economy lowered the barriers for entrepreneurs to test and launch new business concepts, neighbourhood kitchens enable local chefs to test restaurant concepts in pop up pilots’ before scaling with us and opening a flagship brick and mortar restaurant.”
Future uses
Bronson says that Reef has only just begun, with more programs, partnerships and initiatives on th horizon geared to improve people’s lives and create more connection for diverse communities and cities around the world, including its partnership with vertical farming venture Crate to Plate last year, and drive through Covid-19 test centres.
“In the wake of the pandemic, we’ve seen how cities need stronger connectivity to critical resources. We were there with drive-through testing centers,” says Bronson. “We’ll continue to meet the changing needs of cities.”
Broadly speaking, he says, Reef’s goal is to keep communities moving forward in a sustainable and thoughtful way, where everything you need to live and work is within a 15-minute walk or bicycle ride, such as making last-mile delivery more efficient, enabling micro mobility and electric charging infrastructure, and helping reduce a city’s carbon footprint.
He says that Reef decided to partner with Capital & Regional for its UK expansion due to: “their breadth of expertise in the local commercial real estate space and their superb portfolio of centrally located real estate assets.”
And on whether Reef will be expanding its UK operations further, Bronson adds: “Absolutely, we’ve only just begun. In addition to expanding our physical locations and number of applications, we look forward to partnering with more UK food brands and innovative startups by providing a platform for them to scale efficiently and sustainably.
C&R’s Lawrence Hutching’s adds: “We believe this innovative new agreement provides a blueprint for how community shopping centres can fully embrace and benefit from the digital economy in the future, while continuing to fulfil the vital role as physical destinations.
This was first published in Retail Destination Fortnightly. Click here to subscribe.
