Forecasting New Dev in Rezoned Midtown South

10 September 2025

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Over the next 10 years, the city expects some 9,500 apartments to be built in Midtown South.

The new housing is made possible by the recently approved rezoning of the Manhattan neighborhood, which adds high-density residential districts in an area that was previously zoned for manufacturing use.

The 42-block rezoning, approved this month by the City Council, marks the first time the city has been able to use its new authority to map higher-density residential districts. In some parts of the rezoning area, residential space can have a floor area ratio of 15 or 18, a change made possible by the state budget last year, as well as the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. Residential density was previously capped at an FAR of 12.

This rezoning is also the first time the city has implemented Mandatory Inclusionary Housing in Midtown Manhattan. Of the 9,500 apartments estimated, roughly 2,800 would be set aside as affordable.

The rezoning affects four non-contiguous areas of Midtown South, bounded by 40th Street to the north, Fifth Avenue to the east, 23rd Street to the south and Eighth Avenue to the west.

Before the City Council signed off on the rezoning, it removed the residential zoning designation from a portion of the northwest quadrant in the Garment District and reduced the residential space permitted in the southeast from an FAR of 18 to 15.

The changes shaved 193 housing units off the city’s projections. Some felt those estimates were too conservative and didn’t adequately capture the potential housing lost due to the City Council’s carveouts. The chances of a site being redeveloped after a rezoning rely on a number of factors that can’t fully be captured in any housing estimates.

The Real Deal mapped the 60-plus sites that the Department of City Planning identified as likely to be developed as a result of the rezoning, as well as another seven “potential sites,” deemed less likely to be developed by 2034. The map will be updated periodically to reflect any sales of sites or permit applications filed with the Department of Buildings for the properties.