About Us

 In 1963 six native-New Mexican brothers founded Parking Company of America. The Chaves brothers were apple farmers from Pajarito, New Mexico, a small river community on the banks of the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque. Their father became determined that his sons should go into a more reliable and lucrative business than farming, for all it took was a single bad year or a single hailstorm to destroy an entire year's work.

One day the elder Chaves noticed a classified ad in the Albuquerque Journal for a downtown parking lot that the city was looking to rent out. The lot occupied the current site of the Albuquerque Public Library on Copper between 5th and 6th Streets. Mr. Chaves showed the ad to his second youngest son Richard who quickly secured the lease, and within days he was in business parking cars. Soon after, the brothers got together and secured the lease to the second Albuquerque lot.

At that point they decided to enshrine their grand vision into the company's logo, bordering it with the outline of the United States and adorning it in patriotic red, white, and blue. With only two small lots in Albuquerque they daringly named their fledgling business "Parking Company of America." Many members of the family attribute the company's phenomenal success to this aggressive and lofty vision. Logo and vision both endure to this day.

From the founding in 1963 to the early 1970s, Parking Company of America was the fastest growing parking company in the world. And by 1975 Parking Company of America had already begun to fulfill the vision of its founders. By then it had a substantial parking operation in  twenty-five major cities. By the 1980s it had become - in its own right -the largest privately owned parking company in the world. Crucial to this growth was the decision by the brothers to fan out across the country and each to establish his own proprietorship in his own region. This became a permanent strategy which extended to the family's next generation and remains in effect to this day.

Business development in the early days focused on efficiency, and nothing brought more efficiency than the mechanical parking meter. The brothers invented it, and it became the standard of the industry. It was a flat, rectangular vault with numbered money slots on the front face, each of which corresponded to a numbered parking space. The rear of the meter could be opened by the attendant where payments could be viewed and confirmed at regular intervals throughout the day. The meter became a powerful asset, and after it was patented it could easily be duplicated on any lot anywhere in the country. It was so effective in fact that it became the defining characteristic of the franchise system that the Chaves brothers later implemented.
 

In the mid 90's the second generation focused on expanding the family's airport parking division. Before the family sold 2004, PCA had acquired 38 locations in 29 states. After selling off their interest in the airport parking division, the family focused on building up the Parking Management and Transportation business. 

Fast forward to today, the 3rd generation of the family is now involved in the family business and currently operate two airport parking facilities in Albuquerque, NM and Atlanta, GA, and are currently developing a 4,000 space facility in Kansas City, MO. We currently manage over 100 Parking Management and Transportation contracts for companies and municipalities like Tesla, Space X, Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, Baylor Hospital in Dallas, TX, and the City of Anaheim, CA Public Transportation.

The 3rd generation has hit the ground running and has had immediate success. In 3 years time Richard Chaves III has successfully closed over $30 million in transactions and he and his wife just welcomed his first child Richard Chaves IV into the world. His sister Morgan Chaves received a degree in Finance from The University of New Mexico and has taken over the role of CFO for the family's companies. Their brother Nick Chaves has helped diversify the family business by starting a Construction Management division as well as overseeing operations for the family's parking assets.

Our family thanks you for your business and we are excited to see what the future holds.

Originally Published by Parking Company of America- Albuquerque, LLC.