"That new Yankee Stadium parking spot will cost double soon" Daily News 1/2/8

That new Yankee Stadium parking spot will cost double soon
Wednesday, January 2nd 2008, 4:00 AM

Yankee fans can expect to pay a whopping $29 for stadium parking during home games starting in 2010 - more than twice last year's $14 rate.

Those who want valet service will pay $40 - a sharp increase over today's $30 rate.

The projected hikes were revealed in the fine print of a $237 million Wall Street bond offering that the city Industrial Development Agency issued two weeks ago to finance the creation and refurbishing of nearly 9,000 parking spaces for the new stadium.

The basic game-day parking rates will jump to $17 this year, then to $19 next year, when the new $1 billion Yankee Stadium is slated to open.

The rates would then zoom to $29 in 2010 and would increase to $35 by 2014, according to a parking feasibility study that accompanies the bond documents.

"The rates ... are projections made by an independent consultant," said Janel Patterson, spokeswoman for the city Economic Development Corp. "They, therefore, do not necessarily reflect what the actual rates for the facilities will be."

The city's inclusion of the report in its official financing statement is meant to assure bond buyers that garage revenues will be sufficient for Bronx Parking Development LLC, the little-known group the city chose as developer, to pay off the bonds.

The main reason for the high rates is the astounding $340 million price tag for the project - three new garages, the refurbishing of half a dozen outdoor lots and the replacement of park land displaced by the new stadium.

The cost is $60 million higher than the city announced just eight months ago, when the IDA gave it preliminary approval.

In addition to the bonds, the garage project is receiving $70 million in direct subsidies from the state and $32.5 million from the city to pay for replacement parkland that will be situated over two of the garages.

Financial projections in the feasibility study show that even with the huge public subsidy and the higher game-day parking rates, revenues will be insufficient to permit the developer to pay full rent and taxes to the city until at least 2016.

So while the fans pay double for parking, taxpayers will receive virtually nothing for almost a decade from garages that public money helped build.

Meanwhile, the Yankees will be raking in huge amounts of cash from their spanking-new stadium next-door.

jgonzalez@nydailynews.com