If these new zoning districts can’t make it in Midtown South, they probably can’t make it anywhere.
The rezoning of 42 blocks in the neighborhood would be the first two new zoning districts allowing residential space to be built 15 or 18 times the size of a development lot. The plan could net 9,700 units, with at least 2,800 offered at below-market-rate rents. But some elected officials are pushing back.
“It is going to require really bold action to address housing needs,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said in an interview. “If we can’t do it in a dense, busy, transit-rich part of Midtown, where can we do it?”
Last year, the state lifted the city’s cap on residential space, which had been set at a floor area ratio, or FAR, of 12. That allowed the city to create new districts that permit FARs of 15 and 18 as part of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative.
Unsurprisingly, Levine is supporting the Midtown South rezoning, after previously pitching rezonings in various Manhattan neighborhoods to maximize housing production.
The borough president’s support is not binding, but at this point, there is little reason to believe the rezoning won’t be approved. Local Council members Keith Powers and Erik Bottcher have already voiced support for it.
This is an unusual move given that elected officials usually wait until later in the land use review process to show their cards. They often do this to maximize the leverage they have in squeezing more affordable units and other concessions out of developers before lending their support, which has the power to make or break a project.
Not everyone is on board with the rezoning. Community Board 4 recommended rejecting the plan, calling for height limits that vary by location and suggesting a special permit for any residential building that wishes to exceed an FAR of 12 (meaning that residential space can be built more than 12 times the size of the project’s lot).
Newly rezoned districts have to be mapped, meaning that a project or neighborhood that wants to use those higher FARs must be rezoned and go through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Requiring a special permit for individual projects within Midtown South would mean these developers would need to go through a separate ULURP.
With various bonus programs, residential projects could actually be built well beyond an FAR 18, though that requires a separate authorization or special permit, according to City Planning. The board doesn’t want to allow any development to exceed an FAR of 18.
The board also called for mandating that a minimum of 30 percent of a project’s units be set aside as affordable for any project with an FAR larger than 12. The city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program sets the floor at 25 percent.
“This rezoning proposal to allow residential use and increase density has become a kitchen sink approach to serve too many objectives at once—affordable housing, open space and transit improvements,” the chairs of the board wrote to City Planning in March.
They said the rezoning should be “sharpened” to ensure that, among other things, new buildings don’t disrupt the “existing neighborhood character,” defined in part by 20th-century loft buildings in the Garment District.
Community Board 5 recommended the rezoning’s approval with conditions, including reducing the number of areas that allow residential space with an FAR of 18, instead calling for a maximum FAR of 15.
Powers said the rezoning would “unlock crucial housing stock, including affordable apartments, and spark economic growth in Midtown.” Bottcher called the rezoning a “critical opportunity to confront the five-alarm fire that is New York City’s housing shortage.”
Levine, who is running for city Comptroller, is recommending the creation of a public realm fund to help pay for infrastructure upgrades in the neighborhood and wants to “prioritize the delivery of more than 25 percent of affordable housing units in newly created buildings.” That doesn’t translate to the 30 percent mandate being sought by Community Board 4. Levine said he doesn’t expect much city subsidy to be available to add more affordable units to projects in the neighborhood, especially with expected threats to federal funding.
“We were careful not to make any unrealistic demands here,” Levine said.
Developers currently have less incentive to propose new large residential units. Projects built in the neighborhood with the property tax break 485x with more than 150 apartments are subject to new construction wage requirements; developers must pay the lesser of $72.45 per hour (increasing 2.5 percent annually) or 65 percent of the greatest prevailing wage rate. That could suppress the number of housing units ultimately built.
At the same time, commercial-to-residential conversions in the neighborhood are eligible for the most valuable tax exemption available under the 467m incentive program. Both community boards emphasized the importance of incentivizing conversions over tear-downs, and Levine agreed that further incentives for conversions should be explored.
The city recently kickstarted another massive rezoning in Long Island City. That proposal could lead to the construction of an estimated 14,700 homes. The administration determined that the new zoning districts that allow higher FARs were not appropriate for the rezoning area. The maximum residential FAR for the proposal is 12.
The Midtown South rezoning is part of Mayor Eric Adams’ announced goal to build 100,000 units in Manhattan over the next decade.
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