Parking market leader Denison acquires top competitor

The city’s largest parking operator has acquired its biggest competitor.

Indianapolis-based market leader Denison Parking Inc. on Monday said it acquired EZ Park of Indianapolis Inc., the second largest parking operator in central Indiana.

Financial terms of the deal, which closed Jan. 1, were not disclosed.

EZ Park, founded by company president Barry Widduck in 2011, has 12 properties and 5,000 parking spaces. Widduck, who was president of Express Parking Inc. for nearly 20 years before starting EZ Park, has joined Denison as a vice president.

“We are pleased to welcome Barry Widduck and his entire team to Denison,” said Denison President Jeff Line in written comments. “The EZ Park team have been great competitors and we look forward to a great future with them.”

The acquisition adds to Denison’s existing central Indiana portfolio of 60 on-street, off-street, valet and event properties. The company operates 42,000 parking spaces in Indianapolis and 71,000 overall in 10 states.

The acquisition is the second for Denison in the past year. Last January, it acquired the assets of local boutique valet parking company SOPHI Global LLC, forming a new subsidiary to help expand its valet and concierge service.

With the purchase, Denison picked up valet operations at the Hilton Garden Inn downtown, IU Health North campus, CharBlue steakhouse, Oceanaire restaurant, the Lucas Oil Estate in Carmel, and the Beach House in Pompano, Florida.

Denison, which has been in the parking business since the 1940s, has been owned by the Griffith family for several generations. It got its name from the Denison Hotel—which stood on the corner of Pennsylvania and Ohio streets and was purchased by William C. Griffith in the 1920s. He later partly razed the hotel to make room for one of the first paid parking facilities in the country.