If you’ve lived in New York City long enough and owned a car, you’re intimately familiar with alternate sides of the street parking and the Rubik’s cube of rules, regulations, trials, and tribulations that go along with the territory.
My favorite Seinfeld episode captured this puzzle perfectly when George Costanza takes a job for his friend Sid moving cars from one side of the street to the other ultimately causing a car collision and traffic jam, making it take longer for an ambulance to reach Elaine’s boyfriend, which causes additional neural damage that could have been prevented. Due to the delays caused by George, a disgruntled Woody Allen says that he may never shoot a movie in New York City ever again. Additionally, George’s poor performance causes many longtime customers of Sid’s to cancel. This results in Sid being unable to finance his nephew’s operation to save his foot, which must now be amputated. Failing to park your car legally and successfully on the street can have devastating consequences.
I’ve had numerous cars (and a motorcycle) towed for generally vague reasons where I’ve had to take a taxi to a stand-alone trailer deep in the heart of Brooklyn and hand over $1000 CASH (only) to a guy named Vinnie. Upon receiving the ransom, he released my car. Sounds legit. On another occasion, I arrived at my car an hour before the expiration time to switch it to the other side of the street, only to find my car totaled in the middle of the street with a polite note on the windshield from the NYPD explaining that my vehicle was involved in a hit and run incident where a drunk driver decided that doing 100MPH between 80th and 81st Street was a good idea.
That’s when I decided to bite the bullet and pay for a monthly spot.
Now, if you’ve ever witnessed a valet parking attendant park your car, you’ll agree with me that the skill level required for this job is high and these are some of the most underpaid professionals who keep our city moving. Some of these valets have the ability to play Jenga with an SUV while maintaining a margin of error of 6 inches. I’ve seen attendants climb through windows to exit and enter a car because it isn’t easy to squeeze your body in-between six inches of clearance to open a door.
This upgrade to my life, 25 years ago, saved me hours of frustration and angst and cost me $500 per month.
Since Covid, and due to the lack of interest in mass transportation, everyone is driving to work. Good luck finding a monthly, daily, or hourly spot in the city. Every lot is full.
Parking on the street has become impossible too. The new regulations that allow restaurants to occupy the sidewalks and streets has eliminated thousands of metered street parking spaces. Good luck finding a legal spot on the street. Every space is full (and often with the driver working from her computer at the driver’s seat).
If you’re truly a “baller” and lucky enough to find a building with the amenity, you can buy and own a licensing agreement that gives you permission to exclusively use a parking in your building. In addition to the purchase price, you will still have to pay a monthly fee of around $500 per month for maintenance. The demand for this is HUGE. I’ve sold about 50 parking spaces in my career and they have ranged anywhere in price from $250,000 to $1 million. Per space. I estimate that there are less than 350 private parking spaces that exist in NYC. (There’s no real data on this).
The going rate for a parking spot today in NYC is around $500k. The average size of a private parking is 8X18 which is 144 square feet. At an average of $500k per spot, this amounts to $3,472 per square foot! More expensive in some cases than the average price per ft of a penthouse. I would argue that in spite of this, owning your own parking is still a good investment. With the parking supply constantly shrinking and no end to this shortage in sight, people who can afford the luxury will continue to pay a premium for it.
The rest of us will have to continue to do the sidewalk shuffle while we hope and pray for another solution.
SIDEBAR:
As we celebrate the start of spring and April Fool’s Day, I recommend you listen to Vernon Duke’s composition and the recording of “April in Paris” performed by one of the greatest artists in American History. Count Basie and his orchestra.
Let’s do this!
-Shaun