While it costs about the same as a Starbucks latte to park for an hour in lower Manhattan, there are a few Manhattanites who just want their own dang parking spot, and they're willing to pay $1 million for it.
Yes, you read that right: a handful of parking spots in New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood are being sold for the bargain-basement price of $1 million a pop, according to the New York Times. 150 square feet. $1 million. Let that sink in.
The prices are actually double the amount per square footage as the apartments above them---42 Crosby Street---coming in at over $6,000 a square foot versus the apartment's $3,000-$4,000 per square foot range.
To be offered on a first-come, first-served basis to the buyers of the new building, the parking spaces will be housed in the building's (located at Broome and Crosby) underground garage.
"We're looking at setting the benchmark," said Shaun Osher, who is leading the sales effort at 42 Crosby Street. "In real estate, location defines value and parking is no exception to that rule." In SoHo, there are few to no options."
And it's not just SoHo seeing the astronomical prices, either.
In 2013, a private garage with two parking spaces at 66 East 11th in Greenwich Village was listed for $1 million (if you happen to want to purchase the penthouse above it for $50 million, consider it included in the deal). The previous year, a parking spot for a condo building in TriBeCa sold for nearly $350,000.
Despite these high prices, the average price for residential parking spots in Manhattan for the past 12 months has hovered around $136,000, according to Jonathan J. Miller of Miller Samuel.
Alas, when money is no object, these astronomical prices mean little for those with the funds to purchase them. Perhaps Izak Senbahar, president of the Alexico Group puts it best:
"When someone is paying $50 million for an apartment, another $500,000 for the luxury of not walking a block or two and having your own spot, I guess it becomes a rounding error."
For everyone else, there's always the bus.
