Chicago parking meter concession to sell for $2.5 billion

Bloomberg News

New York-based Stonepeak Partners will pay $2.5 billion to buy the remainder of a lease of Chicago's parking meters, according to a spokesperson for the firm. 

The parking meter lease is currently owned by Chicago Parking Meters LLC, a group led by Morgan Stanley, which struck a deal with Stonepeak to sell the lease last month. While the city of Chicago isn't a party to the transaction, city council must approve the sale. The price was disclosed during a contentious city council meeting on Thursday. 

Stonepeak didn't comment beyond confirming the price, and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Chicago Parking Meters LLC did not respond to requests for comment. 

Some city council members are trying to dispute the sale, due to Stonepeak's ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights. News outlet Mother Jones reported earlier this year that Omni Air International, which was purchased by Stonepeak last April, has quadrupled its work for ICE in since the acquisition. 

In 2008, then-Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley sold the lease on the parking meters for $1.15 billion to the Morgan Stanley-led group, which also included Allianz Capital Partners and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Stonepeak is seeking to purchase the remainder of the 75-year lease which expires in 2084. 

In the nearly two decades since, that deal has been widely panned. Chicago Parking Meters LLC has recouped its entire investment, and has raised parking fees across the city at more than twice the rate of inflation.