Colonial Parking

I'm not sure what they are doing is legal and I am going to pursue it with the Alexandria City Council and the Mayor's office. By my watch and iPhone synced via satellite, I pulled into the garage at 5:02 pm, because in going to Joe Theismann's restaurant, they validate parking after 5:00pm. Unfortunately, the ticket punched us in at 16:58 hours, or 2 minutes prior to 5pm. When I exited a little over 2 hours later, they attempted to charge me for 3 hours of parking despite having a validated parking sticker for after 5 pm. After checking with the restaurant, they agreed to pay for the parking and said it was a constant battle with Colonial. The restaurant told me that they pay a fee for validating parking after 5pm. If that is the case, then they were attempting to double charge me for those hours. If effect, charging me $19.00 for 2 minutes of parking. Legally, even though it is unreasonable, they could charge me for one hour for the 2 minutes prior to 5pm (despite their clock being incorrect), but even that is outrageous. I know Joe Theismann's restaurant wants the parking authority to look into this practice, and I am going to urge them to do so also. In the meantime, parkers beware of this when using this facility. In addition, the attendants have no ability to invalidate any parking stickers regardless of the circumstances, or at least that is what we were informed. Good Luck, better off circling the street for an open spot.

If you are going to places near duke street, this garage is pretty decent. It's not the cheapest around but if you're staying for the day, it isn't the most expensive (~16/a day) and thus could work. The closer uou get to the king street metro the more expensive it gets.nnIt is hidden because it associated with the SHRM building. Also this makes it tough to get in after business hours. So really this is best if you are visiting SHRM or anything of the attached businesses. It's also pretty small so it fills up fast.