No Garage in New York City? Try Walking Instead

It’s true that you will want to keep out of a big city, too crowded for cars unless of course, you love New York City.  Now, there’s a new way to stay out of traffic, try walking instead.

I can sympathize with New Yorkers who have to pay outrageous amounts for parking as I live in San Francisco and it’s pretty bad over here too.

For example, you can work in downtown San Fran and expect to pay at least extra $300-400 a month on parking.  For people who live in high-rises near downtown, the same goes as with New York.

The good part about San Francisco is that a majority of residences are far away from the downtown and near the Ocean Beach.  If you enjoy coastal weather, this might be it for you but if you still plan to stay in New York, go ahead but be prepared to walk a LOT even if you have a million dollar car.

The New York Times’ story, “The Ultimate Luxury: A Garage,” gives us even more reason to shun The Big Apple as a place of residence. Apparently, New York houses, condos and apartments with garages command about 5% more than those that don’t. In some neighborhoods, add 25%. So that means if you have a condo worth $1 million, adding a garage could get you at very least $50,000 more than your car-hating neighbors. One real estate broker estimated that a six-bedroom townhouse he’s selling will bring an extra $1 million because of its car accommodations. The townhouse is priced at $18.75 million.

So why aren’t real estate owners on a garage-building spree? Because convincing the city’s Department of Buildings that you need a curb cut is a long, trying process. The government agency approved only 54 new Manhattan curb cuts in 2008; three less than last year.

And then there’s the anecdote of one family paying $6,600 a year to put their car in a public lot. That’s enough to convince this bunch of car guys that there are better places to call home.

via autoblog

Tags: adding a garage, anecdote, bedroom townhouse, coastal weather, curb cut, curb cuts, dollar car, extra 300, garage building, garages, government agency, high rises, new manhattan, new york times, ocean-beach, outrageous amounts, real estate broker, san fran, spree, york houses

This entry was posted by max on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 5:47 am and is filed under A+Featured Auto, Auto, Cars, Consumer, Cool, Earth, Educational, News.