The Board announced last week that they are in negotiations with a parking operator to switch the parking garage from its current approximately 388 capacity self-parking configuration to a valet system that will accommodate approximately 40% more vehicles.

There has been a predictable uproar from those who currently have parking spaces in the garage.  We are sympathetic to their concerns, as most of them waited a pretty long time to get a spot in the garage, and they will almost certainly suffer a very real loss of convenience as a result of the change.  Ultimately, however, we strongly support the Board’s decision to make this change.

The garage currently can be used by less than 25% of shareholders, most of whom waited 8 years or less to obtain a parking space.  But the wait has shot up in recent years.  The last shareholder to receive a spot waited over 12 years, and there are over 200 shareholders on the waiting list who have already waited more than 8 years.  That means that every single shareholder who will be offered a parking spot as a result of this change has already waited longer than most shareholders who currently enjoy parking privileges.

And based on recent rates of turnover in the garage, a shareholder who signs up today can expect to wait something like 25 years for a parking space.  The impetus for the change isn’t that newer shareholders aren’t willing to wait their turn, as some have suggested.  Newer shareholders are just as willing to wait as those who got here earlier, but they would like to have a turn at some point during their lifetimes.

Indoor reserved self-parking is also a luxury that is virtually unheard of in Manhattan.  We are not aware of a single other market-rate co-op, condo or rental building in Manhattan that has indoor reserved self-parking, let alone at prices that are significantly discounted compared to far less convenient nearby commercial options.  It strikes us as quite unfair to ask that this luxury be preserved for the benefit of 388 shareholders who happened to sign up for parking prior to 2003 or so, when there are 662 other shareholders who want a parking space, many of whom have already waited longer than most of the 388 privileged shareholders did.

A valet system that keeps costs from rising but allows significantly more shareholders to access the amenity, and brings the expected wait for new shareholders closer to historical averages, strikes us as a very sensible and cooperatively minded move. We applaud the Board for having the courage to do it, and we thank the shareholders with existing parking spots who will be sacrificing some convenience to enable more widespread sharing of our communal resources.