ICYMI: East Midtown Rezoning Passes In City Council

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A proposal to rezone a more than 70-block stretch of Midtown East which will grant commercial developers the ability to upgrade the area's aging office building stock was approved by the full city council Wednesday, city officials announced Wednesday.

The plan is expected to generate 6.8 million square feet in new commercial office space over the next 20 years, city officials said. An additional 6.6 million square feet of existing office space will be upgraded into Class A office space.

The resulting development is expected to create up to 28,000 permanent jobs and 23,000 construction jobs during that two-decade span, officials announced.

"With this vote, we are breathing new life into New York's most important business district," Council Member Dan Garodnick, who helped lead the charge on the rezoning, said in a statement. "Not only will we see sensible growth, but the public will benefit from extraordinary new investments in above-ground public spaces and in below-ground subway infrastructure. Better transit, new jobs, top-of-the-line office space: East Midtown is back, full of optimism, and open for business."

Developers will have several options to upgrade existing office buildings and construct new ones under the new zoning regulations. These options include: undertaking pre-approved transit upgrades in exchange for more building space, buying the air rights of landmarked buildings in the district and allowing currently overbuilt buildings to re-use all of their existing floor area in an on-site redevelopment.

"The adoption today of this plan marks a significant achievement in our quest to assure that Greater East Midtown remains the globe's premier business district - one that works for the employees, residents and tourists who fill its streets every day," City Planning Commission Chair Marisa Lago said in a statement.

The rezoning area spans 78 blocks from the east side of Third Avenue to west side of Madison Avenue between East 39th to 57th streets, city officials said.

Photo by Andrea Puggioni via Flickr/Creative Commons