Authority Says It No Longer Needs It
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) issued requests for proposals (RFPs) for the disposition and reactivation of seven properties throughout New York City that the MTA no longer requires for the transit network, including an Ozone Park location.
The move is part of an ongoing collaboration by the city and MTA to reduce overhead, maximize revenue, and foster the re-use of properties without cost to the MTA or the city.
This includes a 5,000 sq. ft. parking lot at 103-54 99th St. near Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, which is zoned for light industrial and commercial uses.
Since last year, a joint city/MTA working group has been reviewing the transit agency’s real estate holdings in order to identify opportunities to increase revenues or reduce costs. The titles to the seven properties available in the RFP for disposition and possible redevelopment are held by the City of New York under a master lease agreement in which the properties are to be used by the MTA as required for transportation operations.
“Given the current financial picture facing the MTA, we have an imperative,” said MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota. “We must do anything and everything we can to raise revenue and reduce costs in order to minimize the need to turn to fares, tolls and taxes. Our real estate department is pursuing that imperative by thoroughly reviewing our real estate holdings and identifying properties that we could potentially offer for sale or lease. Finding properties that we own but don’t need in order to operate service is not an easy task. In fact, most of the properties that fell into that category have been sold off long ago by our public and private predecessors.”
The announcement builds on work the MTA is undertaking to evaluate its broader regional real estate portfolio to identify opportunities for increased revenue through sales or leasing.
As part of that evaluation, the MTA has announced that it plans to sell or lease its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan and consolidate agency offices.
The MTA is now earning $200 million in recurring annual revenues from leases, licenses and concessions; the review is continuing.
These are open RFPs, which allow respondents over the course of up to approximately one year to submit proposals for EDC and MTA review at the following quarterly submission deadlines: 4 p.m. on Friday, June 29, Friday, Sept. 28, Friday Dec. 21, and Friday, Mar. 29, 2013. Visit www.nycedc.com/RFP for more information.
