Roof Rights

Real estate developers, particularly in major metros, often rely on putting significant projects together with the acquisition of air rights from adjacent buildings that are zoned to build taller than the air that they are using. They then sell those rights to an adjacent or nearby property who can then build a bigger building than allowed by its zoning. I chuckled on Sunday when I read an article reporting on a fight in Chicago where the owner of the Chicago Cubs plans a $300 million renovation of the venerable Wrigley Field and is being fought tooth and nail by adjacent property owners who use their roofs to construct bleacher seats that they sell to fans who watch the Cubs games with a six-pack of Hamm’s and dogs with all the fixings. The Wrigley renovation plan involves building new bleacher seats in the park as well as new billboards, both of which will block the view of the rooftop bleachers, and the owners and fans are up-in-arms. Developers now have “roof rights” to address, as if development isn’t already a yeoman’s task.

Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn/Ferry International’s Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.