NEW YORK CITY- Nestled just below Penn Station, Manhattan’s once bustling Fur District located between West 27th and West 30th streets in Midtown South may receive a zoning makeover this year. The Department of City Planning launched a public review process on Monday for the rezoning of the neighborhood, which would change its current zoning designation from manufacturing to mixed-use.
A DCP spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that the proposed M1-6D zone would permit a variety of new uses here, including affordable housing in targeted areas and retail services. At the same time, the designation would protect the neighborhood’s existing building stock to be utilized as class B and C office space. “As the Fur District left the area, it is still a resource for affordable office space,” the DCP spokeswoman says. “It also has not seen much investment or reinvestment because it is currently zoned for manufacturing. The character of this area really called out for some intervention to try and reinvigorate it.”
While unavailable for comment, DCP commissioner Amanda Burden says in a statement that the proposed zoning “would provide a new tool to enliven business districts that have older office and loft buildings,” allowing them to “evolve as vibrant places to both live and work.”
Characterized by loft buildings with stepped back patterns on the upper floors, the neighborhood--spanning Sixth to Eighth avenues--was formerly home to fur merchants and retailers peddling mink, fox and chinchilla coats and accessories. But as the fur business began to decline over the last 20 years, the district became a prime location for start-up companies and emerging businesses, based upon the vast availability of class B and C office space and transportation accessibility, according to the DCP.
And due to its manufacturing past, the area is also home to many underutilized surface parking lots and garages, which the new zoning would allow to be repurposed into mixed-use commercial space. M1-6D would also permit affordable housing on these infill sites through the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program, which provides bonus floor area in exchange for the creation or preservation of affordable housing.
Private applicants have already taken note. Edison Properties LLC, a subsidiary of 249 W. 28th Street Properties LLC, has submitted an application proposing to rezone two mid-blocks bounded by West 28th Street at Eighth Avenue, and West 30th Street at Seventh Avenue. According to the DCP, Edison seeks to redevelop an existing parking garage and a surface parking lot with 407 residential units, 20% of which will be affordable using the city’s housing program incentives.
Because the area is zoned at a density lower than it was originally built, the DCP is aiming to re-brand the high-density location as a new type of business destination, as the demand for affordable office and residential space near transit is becoming more and more scarce in Midtown. The zoning also encourages the reuse of existing lofts and strongly discourages their demolition.
As per the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, Community Board 5 currently has 60 days to review the Edison application; it will then go to Borough President Scott Stringer, the City Planning Commission and then the City Council for final approval. A spokesperson for Edison Properties did not return a phone call to GlobeSt.com in time for deadline.
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