Chicago Leases Parking Meters for $1.6B

Chicago, which in September agreed to lease out Midway Airport for 99 years in exchange for $2.52 billion, has now made a deal to lease 36,000 metered parking spaces to Morgan Stanley for $1.16 billion, reports Bloomberg. The city council will vote tomorrow on the 75-year lease, which allows the new owners to more than double parking rates over 5 years.

Under the new lease, Chicago would continue to enforce parking laws. Mayor Richard Daley said $325 million of the windfall would be used to shore up city budgets through 2012. Two years ago the city made a deal with Morgan for a 99-year lease of its parking garages for $563 million. (More Chicago stories.)