Last month, we introduced you to the Draft Scope of Work for the Greater East Midtown Rezoning Proposal. Released on August 22, 2016 as part of the rezoning plan’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), The Draft Scope is an environmental impact study required by New York City’s City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) process.
BACKGROUND
In addition to discussing the potential environmental impacts of the Greater East Midtown Rezoning plan, the recently released Draft Scope of Work has the added benefit of giving us a sneak preview of the rezoning plan itself. Though this document does not include the proposed text, it provides the rationale behind the proposed rezoning, along with a general description of the plan.
RATIONALE FOR REZONING
The average age of buildings in East Midtown is 75. Many of the aging buildings have unattractive and outdated interiors, featuring low ceiling heights and interior columns. These disagreeable building features have made it a challenge to attract commercial tenants, as seen in the rise of vacant office spaces and low-lease rates in East Midtown’s older buildings.
These aging structures are not being replaced with newer buildings because they are overbuilt; that is to say that if a new building were to be constructed in its place, it would be required to maintain 25% of the old building in order to be permitted to rebuild to the same size as the existing building. This does not incentivize the creation of new buildings in place of old ones. As such, there is a fear that these buildings will lose appeal as office buildings and will end up being converted to residence buildings or hotels.
Additional problems facing East Midtown include: energy inefficient buildings, crowded subway stations, and narrow sidewalks. The Department of City Planning has put together the Greater East Midtown Rezoning proposal to ensure that the area remain a strong commercial center, especially since it has great transit access.
THE REZONING CHANGES
This rezoning proposes the creation of an East Midtown Subdistrict within the Special Midtown District, as a way of increasing the permitted density and encouraging commercial development. Buildings in this Subdistrict will be able to achieve higher densities than are currently permitted through higher FAR allowances.
According to the Draft Scope of Work, buildings in the new Subdistrict can also achieve additional density in the following ways:
- Landmark sites within the Subdistrict will be permitted to transfer their unused development rights to any other lot within the Subdistrict.
- Overbuilt structures can be demolished and rebuilt to their previous FAR without being required to maintain 25% of the current building.
- New developments near transit nodes will be required to complete pre-identified transit infrastructure projects in exchange for floor area.
These options are available to developments on wide streets within the Subdistrict if they meet certain energy efficiency standards and do not dedicate more than 20% of their floor area to residential uses. Any development that obtains air rights through either of the first two options will be required to donate to a public realm fund, which will support local public improvement projects.
Video Above: The Real Deal presents ‘5 Midtown East Projects That Could Gain The Most Office Space from the Proposed Rezoning’
Additional zoning changes are as follows:
- Hotels will only be permitted via special permit.
- Restaurants and observation decks will be permitted on floors above residences.
- Sidewalk widenings will be required for full frontage sites.
- 50% of ground floor uses near Grand Central will be required to be set aside for retail.
- Park Avenue developments will be able to calculate their bulk based on the actual street width of 140’, whereas bulk was previously calculated based on 100’-wide street regulations.
