Perch parking business coming to Athens for UGA gamedays

Sunshine state resident JJ Paulsen says that growing up in a Florida Gator family meant many trips to Gainesville and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. And there’s one aspect of going to see the Gators through the years that he’s never forgotten. 

“A lot of my best memories as a kid were at those games, and the only negative experience was finding parking once we arrived,” said the 20-year-old Orlando native, now an economics major at Florida. “In fact, we had a running joke in the family: How long will it take us to find parking this time?” 

Paulsen, who has also spent time selling parking spots at Florida football games, said he and his business partner Dustin Karp (a Florida alum) decided there had to be a better way to buy and sell parking spots and thus established Perch, a service targeted to make the process easier for everyone involved. In its first year of existence, Perch helped more than 2,000 college football fans find a landing spot for Florida home games. 

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Now Paulsen and Karp are bringing Perch to Athens. 

“Nobody goes somewhere to park; they go there to watch the football game,” said Paulsen. “Parking is really a commodity that not a lot of lot of people think about but is the first and last impression for fans that go to games. When you go to a game, the first thing you do is park your car and the last thing you do is pull your car out and leave.  

“Our goal is to ultimately make that process as simple as possible and provide a positive first and last impression on fans coming to the games, so they’ll come back year after year.” 

Perch has already reached an agreement with one lot near Sanford Stadium and Paulsen said he and Karp are in the process of contacting other lot owners to establish a digital marketplace to make the gameday experience a little less aggravating for buyers and sellers who don’t already have spaces reserved. 

“We’ve teamed up to put this platform together that allows businesses, residences, churches, elementary schools – pretty much anyone selling parking on gameday – list those spots on our platform for fans coming the games to reserve a spot,” said Paulsen. 

Paulsen added that lot owners set their own prices for spaces and he said in its inaugural season in Athens, Perch will eschew fees to ramp up inventory and goodwill. 

“For this coming season, we’re running a promotion that all new onboarding lots will have our transaction fee waived for the first year to encourage more people to give our platform a shot and let people see how easy this can make their lives,” he said.  

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“This platform is made by football fans for football fans. We’re more focused on building up inventory and helping as many lot owners and football fans as we possibly can.” 

Paulsen also hopes to expand beyond Gainesville and Athens and has targeted Florida State, Alabama, Virginia and Tennessee as possible Perch sites. When asked how his personal gameday experience in Gainesville will unfold this fall, Paulsen said he and Karp will prioritize being available for lot owners and customers. 

“The platform is built to be fully sustainable, so all the people who list with us get their own custom dashboard that lists prices and reservations,” he said. “They don’t need us to directly do anything – we put as much power as possible in the lot owners’ hands but we handle the customer support, so if customers reach out with issues or questions, I make sure I’m available to answer and to provide support for the lot owner.” 

It’s likely that in the next couple of years, with EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville set to undergo improvements that are expected to close the facility for the 2026 and 2027 Georgia-Florida games, the celebrated rivalry will move to alternative sites, possibly even a home-and-home situation. 

If that’s the case, Paulsen said that Perch will welcome Bulldog fans to Gainesville with open arms. 

“Last year, we helped quite a few away-team fans looking for parking,” he said. “We definitely don’t discriminate just because we’re Gator fans. When the Bulldogs come into Gainesville, we’ll definitely have parking for them.” 

For more information, visit www.parkwithperch.com.