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Uber Looking for Big Apple Parking Lot for Idle Vehicles

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By Hadassah Kalatizadeh

Uber is adapting to the New York way of life by looking for a parking spot. It will require quite a large lot to park its idle ride-hail vehicles. The need for the lot is augmented by a new limit on the amount of time app-based drivers can drive around below 96th Street without a passenger. If the city’s proposed rule passes, Uber and Lyft drivers’ time driving solo below 96th street will be capped to no more than 31% of their time on duty. Furthermore, last week Mayor de Blasio’s office said it would continue to halt the issuance of new for-hire licenses, extending the year-old suspension in its attempt to restrain the growth of ride-hailing vehicles in the city.

Uber has already responded by tapping CBRE, the oversized commercial real estate services firm, to help find a lot for about 250 vehicles to park and wait until they are called upon to give someone a ride. The ride-share giant, which was established 10 years ago in San Francisco, doled out fliers to commercial real estate execs and brokers late last week, publicizing its quest to buy or lease a suitable location between 96th Street and 110th Street either on the East Side or West Side. “If the city passes the proposed ‘cruising cap,’ we want to be prepared to help mitigate the inevitable congestion that will be caused by app drivers waiting to access the central business district,” Uber said in a statement.

As reported by Crain’s NY, those knowledgeable in real estate expect Uber will have to pay a hefty price to procure such a garage. Bob Knakal, formerly of Cushman & Wakefield who is now the New York area chairman of investment sales for JLL, says this sort of large vacant lot is most often purchased by developers with an eye on constructing profitable residential buildings. “Uber is going to have to compete with developers, and a garage or land site is always going to be worth more as a residential development site than its existing use,” Knakal said. “It’s a tough requirement. They’re going to have to pay an exorbitant price.”

Still, in the past few years, some of the large parking garages have been losing business, because less people are driving their cars into the city, in part, paradoxically, because of the popularity of e-hailing ride companies. This could potentially open up an opportunity for Uber to purchase one such struggling garage.

Lyft too has formulated a response to the newly proposed city rule. Lyft said it will kick some of its drivers off the app when demand is down. Those drivers will most than likely just log onto Uber, multiplying the number of idle drivers that Uber needs to deal with. “Once drivers are kicked off of the Lyft app, they will immediately log on to Uber, significantly increasing the vehicles on our platform without taking a car off the road,” said an Uber spokeswoman in response to Lyft’s decision.

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