Parking Garage Privatization


Aqua Tower; Image credit: George Showman / flickrIt may be the latest in a long line of charges and lost revenue in Mayor Richard M. Daley's parking meter and garage privatization deal. 

According to the Chicago Sun-Timesthe city is facing over $200 million in two separate legal claims from the investors that bought the rights to the city's parking meters and downtown garages. Sun-Times reporter Dan Mihalopoulos joins us on Chicago Tonight at 7:00 pm.

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When the city leased its garages in 2006 for $563 million, it promised the new owners that it wouldn't allow new public parking nearby. But, according to the Sun-Times, the city approved a parking garage in the Aqua skyscraper months after the deal. The investors, controlled by Morgan Stanley, filed a $200 million claim against the city, saying they would never have paid as much with the added competition.

The city is also facing a $13.5 million claim from Daley's meter deal. The meter owners are asking the city to reimburse them for free parking they've given to vehicles with disability plates and placards. 

Both claims will be resolved through arbitration, as required by the lease contracts.

View a map below of the privatized garages, and the area downtown the city promised to keep free of new public parking. The privatized lots are in blue, and Aqua is in red. 

 

 

 

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