Commercial Parking Lot: 10 Transformational Landscaping Ideas

High-quality commercial parking lot landscaping elevates the look and feel of your entire property. When well-appointed, a building’s parking lot conveys a powerful first impression for employees, clients, tenants, etc.

In this article, you’ll find ten practical ideas that will improve aesthetics, function, and safety for any commercial parking lot landscape plan. We’ve also included tips for avoiding common pitfalls and considerations when hiring a professional landscaper.

Plus, you’ll learn how a professional-looking parking lot can increase revenue for brick-and-mortar retailers and commercial establishments.

Revenue Impact of Commercial Parking Lot Landscaping

Making improvements to a commercial parking lot can have a ripple effect on the entire property. And adding professional landscaping takes both the improvements and the ripple effects to the next level.

Customers feel safer in the parking lot, which leads to more trust in the brand. Plus, those customers tend to spend more.

A study from the University of Washington found the following:

• Property owners can charge higher rent (an average of 7 percent higher) when a commercial property has high-quality landscaping.
• Shoppers spend 9 to 12 percent more on products and services in business districts with greenery and quality landscaping.
• Shoppers indicate that they will travel a greater distance to visit a spot with high-quality greenery and spend more time there once they arrive. (1)

Modern Elite Aluminum Planters at Andromeda HQ in Long Island City, NY.📷: Client

10 Ways to Transform Your Parking Lot

1. Create Green Spaces in Your Parking Lot Design

Commercial parking lots are no longer being designed with asphalt only.

Visually pleasing additions of greenery and safe, accessible pathways are becoming more common design elements for parking lot projects. The addition of dedicated green space results in a polished, organic, and welcoming feel for commercial clients and shoppers.

Consider the various options for incorporating greenery into the parking lot design plan — from patches of grass and trees to commercial parking lot planters and more.

The best way to create a plan for adding this green space is with strategic design fundamentals

We recommend the following steps:

• Consider the purpose of the design project. Think about how the outcome will benefit the users of the space. Use those outcomes to drive the planning.
• Think of the big picture. Begin with the end in mind. Consider whether you’ll use curves or angles, symmetrical or asymmetrical design patterns, etc.
• Begin to narrow the focus. At this point, it’s time to begin considering the specifics of the design elements, e.g., size, materials, and locations of planters
• Get granular. Finally, look into the finer details, like the types of plants and trees you want to use, seating areas you wish to add, etc.

2. Enhance Wayfinding and Signage

Design your commercial parking lot with foot traffic and convenience in mind. Commercial parking lots that incorporate effective wayfinding help visitors make their way safely to their destinations and then back again to their cars.

Eye-catching markers are important. Wayfinding information should be sufficiently detailed but remain simple and intuitive. Placing commercial planters near each sign makes this information easier to locate for visitors — much like how Disneyland places characters high on light posts as a visible and recognizable marker.

Wayfinding should combine elements of marketing, planning, function, and design. This process of navigating through a commercial parking lot can be further optimized by including paved walkways lined with beautiful greenery.

3. Add Low Maintenance Plants

Adding greenery to a commercial parking lot will yield significant benefits. To keep maintenance to a minimum, we recommend choosing plants that:

• Require minimal watering
• Don’t shed much debris
• Can handle direct sunlight
• Are native to your region as they’ll have the best chance of thriving, even if conditions are challenging

That said, if you do find yourself with plants that require some watering and maintenance, you can think about self-watering planters as a way to make irrigation easier.

4. Create Shaded Areas

Have you ever come back to your car in the summer months only to find it swelteringly hot? The seats are boiling. It’s stuffy. It’s an overall unpleasant experience.

One way to prevent this from happening for clients, employees, etc., is to create shaded areas that reduce direct sunlight on the vehicles in your parking lot. You can do this using a variety of trees that help block the sun’s warming rays.

5. Build Pathways and Hardscapes

Put yourself in the shoes of the people visiting your commercial property. One way or another, you need to get from your vehicle to the front doors of the building.

Would you rather do so by walking across asphalt? Or would your experience be enhanced that much more by walking on a beautiful pathway?

Consider using brick or stone pathways to lead from your parking lot to the front door of your building, and don’t be shy about adding some greenery to line them.

Not only will adding pathways and hardscapes be a welcoming visual touch, but staff and visitors will enjoy the journey as they make their way into your building.

PurePots Fiberglass Planters at SCAN Design in Altamonte Springs, FL 📷: VHT Studios

6. Plant a Wide Range of Flowers

As they say, variety is the spice of life! So, when you’re selecting plants for your commercial parking lot planters, aim for variety.

We recommend adding a wide range of colors, sizes, and types of plants and flowers to elevate your space and for retail establishments, capture the attention of shoppers passing by.

Remember, the goal is to create an experience that surprises and delights people when they arrive at your commercial building. And what’s more surprising than a lush and green parking lot?

7. Use Shrubs Instead of Fences

In many instances, city regulations require fences to be installed between lots and adjacent institutional or residential areas.

While many landscape design plans simply build fences and leave them as they are, commercial planters soften the appearance of fences by incorporating small trees, shrubs, and vines.

8. Line the Area with Bioswales

Parking lot landscaping offers more than visual benefits. When you line your parking lot with bioswales, you can also provide natural drainage and filter stormwater.

Bioswales are linear vegetated ditches that allow for the collection, conveyance, filtration, and infiltration of stormwater. These landscaping features remove pollutants and silt from stormwater and direct them toward a larger water collection system to minimize flooding.

To elevate the aesthetics of landscaping with bioswales, we recommend adding grasses, shrubs, and perennials.

PurePots Fiberglass Planters at SCAN Design in Altamonte Springs, FL 📷: VHT Studios

9. Add Seating Areas

Consider where visitors might naturally sit throughout and around the commercial parking lot. Adding seating areas throughout the lot can go a long way in terms of convenience.

We recommend adding modern benchesalong a walkway or inside a waiting pavilion or gazebo.

10. Protect Pedestrians with Parking Lot Planters

Adding planters to a commercial parking creates decorative safety barriers that protect pedestrians from moving vehicles and distracted drivers.

By separating walkways from busy streets and parking areas, you can protect visitors. Beautiful barrier or bollard planters serve as visual cues that alert drivers to off-limit areas.

What to Avoid When Landscaping a Parking Lot

In order to minimize maintenance and optimize the outcome of parking lot redesign project, we recommend avoiding:

• Planting trees under overhead service wires
• Planting trees or plants with low-hanging branches that may scrape or damage cars
• Using thorny plants that may scratch people
• Incorporating plants that might drop seeds, blossoms, or pods that may clog draining or create unwanted clutter

Pro Tip: Hire a Professional Landscaper

Although many projects are candidates for a DIY endeavor, commercial parking lot landscaping is one undertaking where you’re better off hiring a professional.

We recommend finding a local specialist to optimize the outcome of your design project. And if you’re in search of high-quality planters and additional design expertise, PureModern works collaboratively with landscape architects to create incredible parking lots using the right planters.

Learn More

With the right approach, you can transform your commercial parking lot from a plain and unremarkable patch of pavement into a beautiful space that conveys an amazing first impression for anyone heading into your building.

To learn more about how planters can optimize a commercial parking lot, contact us and speak with one of our experts today. We’re here to help answer any questions you might have.

Resource(s):

(1) https://depts.washington.edu/hhwb/Print_Economics.html