Park Slope Parking Spot Selling for $300,000

Welcome to Park Slope, where people are buying homes for more than $1 million, renting at more than $3,000 a month -- and buying parking spaces at $300,000. 

That's the current market price for a parking spot at a garage on Union Street. The last one sold for $280,000.

"That's more than what my parents paid for their house," remarked neighbor Julie Hollar. 

"Yikes. I guess that's why I don't own a car, because it's hard to park around here," said Eiko Fukuda, who also lives nearby.

The lack of available parking is exactly why Karen Ratner paid more than $100,000 for her spot a few years ago. 

"There's no other parking available," said Ratner. "We had our car parked across the street on a monthly basis, but they closed to make residential." 

Once developers tore down that 300-space garage to build new homes, the demand for parking skyrocketed. 

Howard Pronsky, who bought the Union Street garage 30 years ago -- when each space went for the bargain price of $29,000 -- says despite the exponential profit growth, this isn't an investment. 

"The only thing you buy it for is peace of mind," he said.

Julia Kite of the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives disagrees. 

"A spot in Park Slope costs the same amount as a condo in another part of Brooklyn, then we are really in a situation where parking spaces are not being treated for their intended purpose," she said. "They are really becoming an investment opportunities, and it's a shame because it robs people who live in Park Slope of a place to keep their car, and we think it might be time for the city to institue some kind of residential parking system." 

Still, some residents are unfazed by the price tag. The $300,000 parking spot is a relative bargain compared to some spaces in Manhattan going for $1 million.

"This is the Brooklyn we live in today," said Hollar. 

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