Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
NYC Industrial Development Agency

Anybody Interested in Tearing Down a Couple of Yankee Stadium Garages?

Another attempt to salvage something positive from the Yankee Stadium parking boondoggle is underway. The company that operates the garages, having defaulted on hundreds of millions in triple-tax exempt bonds, has issued a request for proposals for the sublease and redevelopment of two lots.

Even back in 2007 and 2008, when the NYC Economic Development Corporation (via the Industrial Development Agency) closed the deal before an economic feasibility study could be completed, and Albany authorized the seizure of public parkland, the writing was on the wall. Other than the EDC, the Yankees, and the Bronx Parking Development Company, most anyone could see that a new stadium with fewer seats, a new Metro-North station, and acres of existing (EDC-financed) parking nearby wouldn't need 2,000 more parking spaces than Tropicana Field.

Yet here we are: a 9,000-spot parking complex that's at 38 percent capacity on game days, and all but empty in the off-season. According to the city's Independent Budget Office, Bronx Parking missed its April payment to bondholders, and the company has yet to pay the city a cent in rent or payments in lieu of taxes. City and state taxpayers are at the back of the line, since the deal was structured so bondholders are paid first.

Responses to the RFP were due June 5, according to the IBO. A 2011 request for expressions of interest to develop a hotel to complement or replace the garages fell through when all potential developers wanted -- you guessed it -- subsidies from the city. And Neil deMause reports on Field of Schemes that the sites proffered in the RFP aren't big enough to accommodate a Major League Soccer facility -- though the Queens Chronicle notes that a new soccer arena near Yankee Stadium would satisfy the MLS's "close to mass transit" requirement.

Even if MLS takes an interest in redeveloping the Yankee Stadium garages, residents of the South Bronx still lost their parkland, and taxpayers may not be off the hook. To build a new stadium in the city, deMause reports, MLS is seeking an estimated $100 million in subsidies.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

DOT Downsizes Very Modest Brooklyn Bike Lane Plan After Pushback

Activists were furious that such a minimal initial proposal had been truncated further after predictable bikelash.

September 8, 2025

Adams Admin. Will ‘Begin Installing’ Flatbush Ave. Bus Lanes After Years of Dithering

The full plan which includes pedestrian bump-outs and bus boarding islands will have to wait until the spring, officials said.

September 8, 2025

The Ire This Time: City Seeks the Power To Confiscate Unsafe E-Bike Batteries From Poor Delivery Workers

Uncertified batteries can no longer legally be sold in the city, but many workers are still using them because they are less expensive.

September 8, 2025

Monday’s Headlines: He’s In It To Lose It Edition

The mayor won't quit a race he will certainly lose. Plus other news.

September 8, 2025

Zapped: ‘Emergency Vehicles’ (Ahem, Cops) Repeatedly Caught Clogging the Jay Street Busway

Squad cars, ambulances, sheriffs department vehicles and other exempted scofflaws are blocking the busway an average of six times every day.

September 5, 2025

Friday Video: How Public Transportation Fails ‘Fat’ People

Take a deep dive on the importance of size-inclusive transit, and what activists in Brussels are doing to get it.

September 5, 2025
See all posts