I live in New York City. And in New York City, parking spaces are like gold. Fighting over public street parking is a nightmare, and garages are incredibly expensive. People regularly pay hundreds of thousands of dollars—the equivalent of very nice homes in other parts of the country—for single parking spots in New York.
For the longest time, I made do with street parking, electing to battle it out in my Lower East Side neighborhood amongst a sea of Lexus GXs, Toyota Siennas, and Honda Passports, each more dented up than the last. But around summertime last year, I managed to score a great deal on a space in an open-air parking lot just two subway stops away from my home, in downtown Brooklyn. For $99 a month, I could keep my car on one of the lot’s stackers, without having to worry about moving it for street cleaning or it getting broken into.
Stackers, by the way, are these things:
For people who have never lived in NYC, $99 a month for a single parking spot must sound like highway robbery. But people who have lived here will know it’s an absolute steal. In truth, I was able to snag a special “storage” rate online through the company’s web portal, which was really designed for cars that rarely ever left the lot. Normally, monthly spots at this place run around $400. The only downside to the storage rate is that you pay $15 every time you want to take the car out.
Seeing as how I don’t drive to work, this was a great deal for me. Even if I took my car out every weekend, I’d only end up paying $159 per month. So I’ve been keeping my Miata there ever since, where it’s lived a relatively comfortable life (for a New York City car, anyway). The lot increased my monthly rate to $125 back in July, which sucked, but I didn’t consider leaving, since $125 per month is still a wild price for downtown Brooklyn. Even the company representative admitted I was getting a deal:
Source: My email
Then, yesterday, I got some terrible news: The parking lot would be closing permanently. The last day of operations for the place is November 30th, which means I have just 60 days left to bask in the convenience before having to vacate forever.
Source: My email
Part of me hoped I’d be able to keep my treasured monthly spot forever, though deep down, I knew it’d be ripped away sooner or later. Truthfully, I expected something more dramatic, like a phone call from a disgruntled manager who realized I’d been gaming the system. I didn’t think it’d be because the entire lot would just shut down.
Before you suggest I try and plead my case to Edison ParkFast to transfer my monthly account to one of the nearby lots mentioned in the screenshot above, don’t bother. I already tried that. A representative for the company told me over the phone that they wouldn’t be honoring any of the current monthly customers’ pricing. If I wanted to move to a nearby lot, I’d have to pay the advertised monthly pricing ($450 per month, at the time of this writing).
I don’t want to pay $450 a month for a parking spot, obviously. With every other lot in the immediate vicinity priced around $300 a month or more, it seems my Miata is destined for a life back on the streets, right as the salt trucks prepare to hit the road for winter. Pray for it.
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The post Why Losing A $125/Month Parking Spot In New York City Is So Devastating appeared first on The Autopian.
