Hammerschlag & Co.'s John Hammerschlag and Jack Stead showed us around their newest parking garage at 201 N. Wells St.yesterday. The 10-story structure currently holds 377 cars but will soon be able to house 540  when the apartment tower, 200 Squared, is complete. John says the garage was designed in a double-helix pattern with angled parking and one-way traffic, which is the most efficient functional design. For the garage façade, Solomon Cordwell Buenz used a perforated sheet metal to allow natural light  and air to penetrate, but shield the sight of cars from the streets.

John says he's touched more than 400 of the city's 500 parking garages over his years in the business of operating, developing, acquiring, asset managing, and advising on parking garages in Chicago and nationwide. Automation, similar to what John is showing us here in his garage at 201 W. Madison, leads to a less expensive, more customer-friendly, better-controlled, and easy to operate parking facility. But John says location is still the number one factor  people think about when choosing where to park, followed closely by price.