NEW YORK CITY-Responding to concerns raised over the Midtown East rezoning proposal during the public review process, the city announced it has made modifications to its initial plan. The revised proposal from the Department of City Planning allows new office developments to include residential space, a mixed-use approach that has been a goal of community leaders. In addition, in response to concerns expressed by landmarked religious institutions, DCP proposed giving all landmarks located in the northern section of the zoning area increased flexibility to transfer their unused air rights.

The modifications also address concerns about hotels by reducing the amount of hotel use permitted on individual sites to 20% and by allowing sites currently occupied by large hotels to rebuild in the new development. Other portions of the initial plan also were tweaked.

Under the existing proposal, only fully commercial buildings qualify for zoning incentives. The Department received recommendations that new developments should allow for a mix of residential and commercial uses. In order to provide for this mix of uses without undermining the proposal's chief goal of incentivizing modern office development, city planning proposed allowing up to 20% of a building's floor area as residential use as-of-right, according to the new plan's announcement. That percentage of residential use could be increased up to 40% through a special permit process.

The new plan also seeks to address concerns raised about landmarks in the area by suggesting a northern landmark transfer area—akin to the Grand Central subarea, the announcement states. The landmark transfer area would include major landmarks such as St. Patrick's cathedral, St. Bartholomew's Church, Central Synagogue, and Lever House. Starting in 2019, these landmarks would be allowed to transfer unused development rights to qualifying sites as-of-right up to their maximum permitted FARs.

In addition, according to the announcement, the new proposal addresses the issue of limited zoning incentives. The original Midtown East proposal restricted zoning incentives to “qualifying sites”—those with a minimum of 200 feet of frontage along a wide street and a minimum size of 25,000 square feet. The modified proposal creates greater flexibility by allowing a site that meets the 25,000-square-foot site size requirement and at least 75% of the frontage requirement to apply for a waiver to use the zoning incentives.

As the industry's most vocal supporter of the rezoning—as well as the leading voice in expressing concerns over the plan—REBNY is reviewing the plan, but told GlobeSt.com its initial assessment. “It appears [the city] is addressing a lot of issues that have been raised,” says Michael Slattery, SVP.

“From a quick overview,” he continues, “it looks like DCP is making the proposal better, in terms of achieving the goals of the rezoning. The revised plan creates flexibility for sites to develop while adhering to the rezoning's goals. The city seems to have struck a balance between the plan and people's concerns.”

For a more comprehensive look at the revised proposal, click here.