Thomas MacMillan Photo
The hole in this year’s budget looks just about the size of a parking lot.
Broadway parking lot, to be precise. That’s the one the city plans to lease to Yale for $3 million to go toward this year’s budget.
The deal, which requires the approval of the Board of Aldermen, was a last-minute addition to the agenda at Monday night’s regular meeting of the city’s legislative branch. The matter was sent to committee in advance of a vote by the full board.
Two years ago, when the city also faced a budget hole, it sold off Market Island and Begonia Island (pictured), two small parcels in the midst of the Broadway section.
They weren’t technically sold, but leased to the university for 99 years. The latest plan, which the administration hopes to bring to fruition before the end of the fiscal year, is to add the Broadway parking lot to those other two leased parcels. The three properties sit in the middle of the east- and westbound halves of Broadway, the busy downtown thoroughfare that will soon be home to a new Apple computer store.
The proposal was officially submitted to the Board of Aldermen by Mike Piscitelli, deputy administrator of economic development. Yale has agreed to pay $3 million up front for the 53,000-square-foot lot, and $1 annually thereafter for the remainder of the 99-year lease term.
“The premium will be recognized as General Fund revenue and will be used to balance the current year’s budget,” Piscitelli wrote in his letter to the board.
Piscitelli requested that the item be placed on the so-called “suspension agenda,” reserved for last minute additions. The reason, he wrote, “This item is necessary to balance the current year’s budget. In order to meet accounting requirements, this item is on a critical path to be accepted by the Board of Aldermen and executed prior to the end of the Fiscal Year.”
The lease of the lot will not close the budget gap entirely, the city will still need to dip into its rainy day fund.
Will the lot remain open to the public? Does this have anything to do with the Apple store? How much money in parking revenue was this lot generating per year? (I assume the city will be losing that revenue).
Going by just the limited info available in the article, this sounds like a small scale version of the parking monetization deal. Lump sum of cash, and Yale will receive all the future revenue generated by this lot. Is that what's happening?
While I don't like the idea of the city filling budget gaps by selling off income-producing properties (which makes it tougher to balance budgets in the future) I'm much happier that it's to Yale than to some out of state company. At least the money stays in the city.
It would be really useful if the NHI could report how much income this lot generates.