LOTS OF SUCCESS; HARD-DRIVING MANAGEMENT FORMULA BUILDS PARKING FIRM FROM SINGLE NASHVILLE LOCATION INTO MULTINATIONAL EMPIRE.

Byline: Karen Miller Associated Press 

Monroe J. Carell Jr.'s father had to talk him into giving up his $12,000-a-year electrical engineering job and joining his fledgling parking lot company 31 years ago.

It turned out father really knew best.

Central Parking Corp. has grown to become the largest commercial parking lot operator in the country and Carell, today the chairman and chief executive, is worth more than $550 million.

``It was a very, very small operation. If I'd understood how small it was I never would have come (home),'' Carell said with a laugh. ``I took a pay cut to do it.''

From a single lot in Nashville, Central Parking has grown to nearly 2,500 parking lots with more than 1 million spaces in 80 cities in 34 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Malaysia, Chile and Mexico.

The company, which had $383 million in revenues last year, operates lots at baseball stadiums for the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies and New York Yankees, as well as lots at New York's Madison Square Garden and Rockefeller Center, Heathrow International Airport in London and Kuala Lumpur City Centre in Malaysia.

``They're very good at what they do,'' said Mark Hughes, an analyst with SunTrust Equities Securities Corp. ``The business itself isn't very exciting, but it's a very consistent business. Year in and year out, people have got to come in and park.''

More than 1.5 million people park their cars in Central Parking spaces every day. And the company is looking to increase that number.

Central Parking wants to acquire the nation's second-largest parking company, Allright Holdings of Houston. The $585 million deal would nearly double the number of lots Central Parking controls, to 4,700.

The merger is getting a hard look from federal regulators who want to make sure it doesn't create a virtual monopoly in some places. Carell remains hopeful the deal will go through this spring.

Monroe Carell Sr. and Roy Dennis started Central Parking in 1959 after retiring from NC&STL Railroad. They grew slowly, starting with the one Nashville lot and adding 14 others, many at railroad stops, in the eight years before Carell Jr. joined them.

When he started, the younger Carell didn't know much about parking lots, but he did know business formulas. He created one for the company: hire college graduates as managers, have them wear suits, pay them well and make them perform. He still sticks to it.

``They want young guys who are hungry, really hungry. That's what feeds the company,'' said Rick Wells, a former Central Parking operations manager.

``They've got a strategy down that works, but at the expense of a lot of good people,'' said Wells, who quit after 2-1/2 years of working 60-hour weeks, including many nights and weekends. ``They squeezed every drop of sweat out of you.''

Carell has heard such criticism before and dismisses it. He said the hours and requirements should not be a surprise to managers because they are told what to expect at every step of their career.

``We don't threaten people. We give them opportunity,'' Carell said.

Central Parking's diversity, strong management and aggressiveness have made it a popular investment. Its stock traded at more than $50 a share last July but has lost about 40 percent of its value in recent months to trade at about $30.

One reason for the drop is the volatile stock market that has hurt many other small capitalization stocks, said Daniel McKinley of J.C. Bradford & Co.

It also has taken longer than expected to get Central Parking's system going at the New York City lots that the company took over by acquiring Kinney Systems in February, he said.

Because revenues from those 400 lots was lower than expected, Central Parking announced fourth-quarter earnings 5 cents below analysts' expectations of 28 cents per diluted share.

``It's the only blemish on their record,'' said McKinley, who is confident the stock will rebound.

COMPANY: CENTRAL PARKING CORP.

HQ: Nashville, Tenn.

CEO: Monroe J. Carell Jr.

HISTORY: Founded by Monroe J. Carell Sr. in 1959. Under Monroe J. Carell Jr., grew into the nation's largest provider of parking services. Will have 30 percent of nonmunicipal parking market if $585 million purchase of Allright Holdings of Houston is approved.

OPERATIONS: 2,436 parking facilities containing more than 1 million spaces in 80 cities in 34 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Malaysia, Chile and Mexico.

REVENUES: $383 million in revenues for 1998.

EMPLOYEES: 12,000.

STOCK SYMBOL: CPC on New York Stock Exchange.

FACTOIDS:

Largest lot: 12,000 spaces at Miami International Airport.

Smallest lot: 25 spaces, several locations.

Average price per hour to park: $5.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO (Color) Central Parking, the nation's largest lot operator, looks to acquire its nearest competitor, Allright.

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

BOX: COMPANY: Central Parking Corp. (See text)