City will probably never see money from parking garage

From Crains:

The embattled Bronx Parking Development Co., which has defaulted on its bonds and owes millions of dollars to the city, is trying to raise money by selling development rights to two street-level parking lots it owns near Yankee Stadium-area, but the outcome is unclear.

In April, the BPDC issued a request for proposals to develop two lots on city-owned land under a sublease from the parking company, which holds the lease. The request for proposals, which was posted on the website of the city's Economic Development Corp., specified that the development be built to sustainable standards and include a rent schedule for the entire term for the sublease, which would run through 2106.

Responses were due back in June. Edward Moran, who was brought in as BPDC's chief restructuring officer in March after the company, which owns a total of five garages and nine street-level lots, defaulted on its bonds, could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The BPDC has been losing money since last year, driven by lower-than-expected demand for parking at its 9,294 parking spaces, which remain half-empty on some game days. The company missed its last payment to bondholders, due April 1, after dipping into its reserve fund to make the previous payment.

The city is not on the hook for the bonds, but as of last October, the BPDC owed $25.5 million to the city in rent and payments in lieu of taxes. The Mayor's Office of Management and Budget did not respond to questions of how much is currently owed the city.

But unless the BPDC can dramatically turn around its fortunes the city is unlikely to see the monies it is owed anytime soon, said Doug Turetsky, chief of staff at the Independent Budget Office.