New Home Trend: Underground Garages

Builders increasingly are including underground garages in their single-family projects, giving home owners more space for extra rooms, back yards, or swimming pools. For example, the underground garage built by Jim Moore of Urban Innovations even features a turntable, which spins the car around so that it does not have to be backed out of the driveway.

Local builders note that purchasing a separate lot in order to expand living space costs more than underground construction.

Steve Melman, economic studies director of the National Association of Home Builders, says tandem parking bays — where one vehicle is parked in front of, rather than next to another — and other parking alternatives are gaining popularity in markets where land costs are on the rise.