"Parking garages are a stable investment in New York City because there will always be more demand than supply," says Francis Greenburger, chairman of TEI, in a release. "Long Island City has seen a lot of residential development in recent years to meet the needs of a growing neighborhood and unlike in Manhattan, many people own cars in Queens. With a net lease in place, we felt this was an excellent investment."

A TEI spokesman tells GlobeSt.com the parking-garage purchase was made to complete a 1031 exchange, and its potential as an income-producing property speaks for itself. "In today's world, a net-lease garage is a pretty plain-vanilla deal," he says.

There may be more similar acquisitions in the company's future, the spokesman says. "Every now and then, Time Equities steps off in new directions," he says. "For example, a few years ago we started buying a number of retail properties, which we hadn't done before." TEI, which owns properties in 25 states, does have a couple of parking garages in its portfolio