From the Daily News:The developer of the Yankee stadium parking system is on the verge of defaulting on $237 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the city's Industrial Development Agency.
So many fans are shunning the network of 9,000 stadium parking spaces that revenue for the first half of 2010 was only $4.8 million - half of what was projected - according to a stunning financial disclosure by Bronx Parking Development.
The firm, which is independent of the Yankees and has existed for only three years, warned bondholders in an Aug. 18 letter that it currently has "insufficient funds" from operations to pay a $6.8 million interest bill due Oct. 1, and another $6.8 million due next April. And despite an additional $100 million in city and state grants it received on top of IDA bonds, Bronx Parking has failed for three years to pay its annual rent tab of $3.2 million to the city. It also has yet to pay any property taxes for the 21 acres of publicly owned land it is leasing to operate the parking system.
According to Bronx Parking, the garages have suffered from several unforseen problems:
* More than 800 fans are heading on game days to the Gateway Shopping Mall five blocks from the stadium, where they pay only $10 to park instead of the stiff $23 self-parking fee ($35 for valet service) at the stadium garages.
* A new Metro North station has lured many fans (about 5,000 per game) to ride the train.
* The Yankees prepaid for only 190 parking spaces this year for their season ticket holders instead of the 900 spaces they prepaid last year.
The firm's announcement sparked an immediate drop in the trading value of its bonds. It also sent city officials scurrying to come up with a solution to what could be the biggest default of an IDA bond that anyone can remember.
The Bloomberg administration selected Bronx Parking in 2007 to build and run the garages after the Yankees demanded a minimum of 9,000 spaces to stay in the Bronx.
9 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciNhss3pxU4
What genius rated these bonds above a junk/likely-to-default rating? There are approximately 81 "gates" in the regular season and a max of 10 gates post-season, but you pay rent, taxes, bond interest, etc. for the full year. Did they forget that 1/2 the games are "away" games?
Bond Buyer
Looks like another EDC brainstorm.
Idiots.
The only idiots are the people that elect the same losers over an over again.
What is stupid is that they allowed for ANY parking garage there at all. With the abundance of public transportation options, why even give the option??? I thought Bloomberg was 'green'?
well, the city of NY needed the new yankee stadium and the new facilities desperately, so I'm glad we wasted all that money and people shouldn't complain that they have to spend 23 dollars to park. how many hundreds of millions of tax dollars went to it?
It may be the only location in the city with excess parking capacity. If they were smart they could lower the price on non-game days to the level where it would fill the place up -- 3 or 5 dollars/day -- and people would switch to MetroNorth or the Subway to continue their commute.
It may be the only location in the city with excess parking capacity. If they were smart they could lower the price on non-game days to the level where it would fill the place up -- 3 or 5 dollars/day -- and people would switch to MetroNorth or the Subway to continue their commute.
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Which is exactly what they used to do at Shea Stadium, (do they still do that, i.e. use CitiField lot for commuter parking during the day?)
Yes, they still do it but the price is ridiculous when the Mets have a game. I think it's $19!
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