7 for 11

The title might be the calling card for the City’s parking lease plan: reportedly seven bidders for the eleven garages and possibly meters and attended lots, altogether comprising more than 17k spaces in Downtown and other parts of the City.

On March 19^th-the day responses to the City’s Request for Qualifications were due-we wrote that when the City heard from eleven bidders that it was likely the number of bidders would fall by the time the City moved toward picking a winner. That was based on the experience of Chicago where the pool of interested parties was eventually reduced so that only two firms actually moved to the final bid stage. According to today’s published reports the seven moving to the next stage (due diligence is to take place from April to June according to the RFQ) "had the financial and operational wherewithal to compete for a long-term lease".

Two New York firms, two Chicago firms, one from Nashville, one from Hartford, and one international firm will move to the next stage and final proposals will be due in July.