A group of investors from New York, Boston and Canada has offered to pay $2.5 billion to privatize Chicago's Midway Airport.
Mayor Richard Daley announced the bid for a 99-year lease of Chicago's smaller airport by Midway Investment and Development LLC at a Tuesday news conference. The move is part of Daley's plan to help close a $420 million budget shortfall.
The city expects to get more than $1 billion in net proceeds from the deal with much of that money to be used for infrastructure improvements.
Chicago applied two years ago to be part of a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program to privatize up to five U.S. airports.
The deal requires City Council approval. The mayor expects to submit it to the council for their meeting next week.
Aside from the airport, two other major city assets have been on the block: the city's 36,161 parking meters and its waste transfer stations.
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