Chicago Council Weighs Stonepeak’s $2.5 Billion Parking Meter Bid as Support Falters

3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jul 13

$2.5 billion is at stake as Chicago’s City Council finance committee prepares to vote as soon as Monday on Stonepeak Partners’ bid for the rest of the city’s parking meter lease.
The vote has become a flashpoint because the meters are changing hands after Chicago’s long-criticized 2008 deal leased 36,000 meters to a Morgan Stanley-led group for $1.15 billion.
Finance Committee Chair Pat Dowell warned Mayor Brandon Johnson earlier this month that Stonepeak’s proposal did not yet have enough support to move forward.
The dispute revives nearly two decades of political backlash over the 75-year lease, showing how any new transfer of the asset still faces intense scrutiny at City Hall.