The future of parking is in New York City apparently, at least when it comes to tech. But you’ll only be able to use it if you have the means, meaning you gotta be filthy rich. reports that the underground parking garages of luxury high rises in New York City have high-tech parking spaces that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
CNBC recently went on a real estate hunt in New York City and found that not only are these spaces expensive but also pretty rare. The high-tech spots are available in buildings where condos and penthouses cost millions of dollars. And they’ll hit your pockets just as much as the homes themselves. CNBC said that the spots typically go for between $300,000 to $595,000. For a parking space.
So what makes these spaces so great? It’s all about making life easier for you when you have money. Take one condo owner who CNBC spoke to, Lori Alf. She purchased a $9.4 million dollar, 3,800 square foot five bedroom duplex for her children. The building she purchased it in was developed by and has 24 automated parking, one of which Alf dropped $300,000 to purchase.
Pulling into the space is easy and rather normal. Owners pull up to a kiosk that detects the vehicle and opens the underground parking garage. Then a button press on the kiosk activates a heavy-duty lift that owners then drive their vehicles onto. You then leave the vehicle. Cameras and sensors double-check that nothing or no one was left in the vehicle, including making sure all doors and hatches are closed. The lift then gives an all-clear signal and takes the vehicle down.
As it makes its way down the lift rotates 180 degrees before storing the vehicle. Retrieving the car is just as easy though it takes a bit of time. Residents of the building just swipe their key card and just over two minutes later their vehicle is delivered back to them. The spaces get more expensive if you have an EV, as adding a charger onto the space is another $50,000. And all residents have to pay a $150 a month maintenance fee, which is probably pennies for someone that can drop that kind of money on a parking space.
What’s wild is that this isn’t even the fanciest or most expensive space. Across town in a building that Sting and his wife call home, parking spaces run $450,000 and feature an app that residents can use to remotely retrieve their vehicle. Buyers of these spaces have an added layer of security when purchasing these spots too. For anyone trying to find out who owns what, good luck. Even though the spaces are purchased, they’re licensed to the owners so no deed of purchase can be tracked down.