The company that operates the parking lots and publicly subsidized, oversized, and unnecessary garages at Yankee Stadium are so deep in the hole, that they’re now seeking developers to lease and develop two of their lots near the stadium at 151st Street between River and Gerard Avenues.
Because more fans are using the subways and Metro-North to get to Yankees games, the parking garages have been operating at only 43 percent since they opened in 2009. That’s made paying off bonds difficult for the system’s operator, the Bronx Parking Development Company, says the New York City Independent Budget Office:
The parking system, which contains nearly 9,300 spaces, was built with substantial public subsidies, including $238 million in tax-exempt bonds and direct subsidies of $70 million from the state and $39 million from the city. Additionally, about 3 acres were removed from use as city parkland and leased by the city to the parking system. Use of the garages and lots has been well below expectation and the parking system has not generated sufficient revenue to make recent payments to bondholders.
Advocates long debunked the need for additional parking in the run-up to the construction of the new Yankee Stadium, instead calling for more and better transit. Now, ironically, the RFP, which was approved in April and released this week, “touts the site’s easy accessibility by public transportation as a prime selling point.” Better late than never, we say.
[…] Because Yankee fans are using public transit to get to games, the parking lots built to house the hordes of vehicular visitors are sitting empty and hemorrhaging money. So the in-debt, cash-seeking Bronx Parking Development Company, which operates the circa 8,800 spots, has issued a request for proposals to sublease and develop two of Yankee Stadium’s lots, which straddle 151st Street between River and Grand avenues (pictured). It’s unclear what kinds of plans the company received before the June 5 deadline, but given the nature of the street, we’re picturing restaurants, sports bars and memorabilia shops rather than some high-rise tower whose apartments sport a view of the field. [IBO via Mobilizing the Region] […]
These parking garages were a very unwise investment of tax dollars. Nobody saw the need for this parking, except the Yankees, for some demented reason. Meanwhile, this neighborhood was really hurting for open space…and anything to help bring asthma rates down. When 300 mature trees were cut down to build these garages, you knew that all of the talk about “greening the city” and “helping people with asthma” coming out of the Bloomberg administration was just a lot of PR, and nothing else. The bottom line has always been, if you are low income in NYC…god help you. Because the fix is in to help someone else get richer at your expense. Good riddance Mr. Bloomberg! Your 12 years are up so please take your big ideas elsewhere. You have done enough damage to the poor and middle class of this city.