Air Rights | 6sqft

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To protect their Empire State Building views, these Chelsea loft owners forked over $11M for air rights

Image via Google Maps shows 206 West 17th Street in 2016. Now, the handful of single and four-story buildings has been replaced by a short, glassy retail space.

July 22, 2019

To protect their Empire State Building views, these Chelsea loft owners forked over $11M for air rights

By Alexandra Alexa

Air rights can be bought by whoever values them the most. In most scenarios, that ends up being a developer, but that’s not always the case. The New York Times recently reported on a rather unusual deal made in 2016 when a group of Chelsea loft owners refused to let a proposed condominium tower obstruct their natural light and Empire State Building views. Instead, they came together and made a substantial offer to buy the air rights themselves: $11 million.
How much is a view worth?

St. Patrick’s Cathedral $7M air rights deal blocked by exclusive men’s club

Image via Wikimedia

August 10, 2018

St. Patrick’s Cathedral $7M air rights deal blocked by exclusive men’s club

By Devin Gannon

In March, the Archdiocese of New York reached a deal to sell 30,000 square feet of development rights from St. Patrick's Cathedral to MRP Realty and Deutsche Bank, the owners of 405 Park Avenue in Midtown East. But, as Crain's reported on Thursday, an exclusive men-only club has undercut the Archdiocese by offering the developers the deal at a lower price. The Brook, known for its billionaire clientele, will sell its air rights over its property at 111 East 54th Street to the owners of 405 Park Avenue. The owners plan to use the air rights to add four new floors to the 17-story property, a high-end office building.
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Policy

City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

Conceptual image depicting all of the proposed sites of the East Midtown rezoning fully built out, via CityRealty

June 7, 2017

City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

By Devin Gannon

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the long-awaited rezoning plan for Midtown East on Wednesday, which will rezone 78 blocks in hopes of modernizing the neighborhood. The plan, which was released last August, follows Mayor Bloomberg’s failed attempt to rezone the area in 2013. According to the Real Deal, the proposal would create 6.5 million square feet of new office space over the next twenty years. This would potentially encourage taller and more modern office towers, attracting more commercial and corporate tenants.
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Policy

April 25, 2017

Sale of Brooklyn Navy Yard air rights could fund the BQX streetcar

By Devin Gannon

Although Mayor de Blasio’s proposed BQX project, which would connect the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts via streetcar, received praise from many, finding money to fund it may be tougher than expected. Earlier this month, a leaked memo obtained by the Daily News laid out a tough assessment of the construction logistics and financial problems facing the project. And while the mayor admitted last week that his plan for the BQX to be self-funded through tax revenue from higher real estate values may not pan out, an article in Crain’s laid out an idea for the city to sell air rights in the Brooklyn Navy Yard neighborhood to raise money for the project.
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Mayor pulls Theater District air rights plan after disputes with City Council over floor price

Image via Wiki Commons

February 28, 2017

Mayor pulls Theater District air rights plan after disputes with City Council over floor price

By Michelle Cohen

Image via Wiki Commons The de Blasio administration pulled the plug Monday on proposed legislation that would give the city a 20 percent cut of any air rights sales in midtown Manhattan's Theater District, according to Crain's. The reversal followed disputes with City Council members over a key element–a floor price for the sales. The proposal had been part of a long effort to get theater owners to up the amount they contribute to a fund used for venue maintenance and support for smaller theaters. There is now speculation as to whether the move could cast a shadow on the administration's Midtown East rezoning plan, which is a similar policy initiative.
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Policy

February 7, 2017

City continues push to raise fee for Theater District air rights transfers

By Dana Schulz

In November, the City Planning Commission voted to raise the cost of air rights transfers in the Theater District, allowing the city to take a 20 percent cut of any sales and establishing a minimum floor price of $346, a roughly 400 percent increase over the current $17.60 flat fee that they feel will be more in line with current property values. Despite vocal opposition from the Real Estate Board of New York, who back Theater District landlords and believe the increase is "is onerous, excessive and unfair," this month the Commission is hoping to have the proposal approved by the City Council, reports Crain's.
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Policy

January 4, 2017

New details for controversial Midtown East rezoning revealed, plan moves forward with land use review

By Michelle Cohen

Plans to rezone Midtown East are few steps closer to reality with the start of the new year. The Department of City Planning has certified a rezoning proposal for the area surrounding Grand Central, and the city kicked off its official land-use review process Tuesday. The next step for the rezoning plans will be the seven-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which includes review by community boards 5 and 6, the Manhattan borough president, the City Planning Commission and the City Council. The zoning proposal could add 6.5 million square feet of commercial space to the 73-block district in the form of 16 larger, more modern buildings that would replace old ones, breathing new life into the office zone that New York Post real estate columnist Steve Cuozzo recently referred to as “iconic but declining.”
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Policy

November 23, 2016

City may take a 20 percent cut from Midtown East landmarks that sell their air rights

By Dana Schulz

At the end of August, the city released its long-awaited, very controversial Midtown East Rezoning plan. In addition to allowing 16 new towers to spring up in the area bound by Madison and Third Avenues and 39th and 50th Streets, the upzoning will "permit owners of landmarked buildings to sell their air rights across the district, rather than just to adjacent properties like the current law dictates," as 6sqft previously explained. The following month, the city embarked on a study of these unused development rights, which would amount to an additional 3.6 million square feet over the next 20 years. And part of their conclusion is that they're considering taking a 20 percent cut of these air rights sales, reports Politico.
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Policy

November 17, 2016

City Planning Commission votes to raise fee for Theater District air rights transfers

By Michelle Cohen

The City Planning Commission has voted to up the cost of air rights transfers in the special Midtown Manhattan district that includes Broadway's theaters, The Real Deal reports. Currently, when developers purchase air rights from theaters between West 40th and West 57th Streets from Sixth to Eighth Avenues, they pay $17.60 per square foot to the Theater Subdistrict Fund. Transferable development rights can usually only be used for adjacent properties, but the city created the special district in 1998 to help the theater industry thrive amid sharply rising real estate prices; within the district, air rights can be moved more freely in a larger area outside the usual “arms length” restrictions.
What does this mean for Broadway theaters?

Policy

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September 1, 2016

City studying the cost of allowing landmarked Midtown East properties to sell their air rights

By Dana Schulz

Last week, the city released their long-awaited Midtown East Rezoning plan, a controversial upzoning of the area bound by Madison and Third Avenues and 39th and 50th Streets that would encourage taller, more modern office towers to attract commercial tenants. One of the debated points is the proposal to permit owners of landmarked properties to sell their air rights across the district, whereas now they can only be transferred to sites directly adjacent or above the existing structure. The city has now embarked on an appraisal of these unused development rights, which amount to 3.6 million square feet and will likely be distributed to the 16 new towers that the rezoning would yield over the next 20 years. As Crain's explains, hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, which is part of the reason Mayor Bloomberg's 2013 attempt at the rezoning failed--opponents were concerned about "the difference between what could be built on a given parcel (such as a soaring office tower) and what actually sits on the site (a church or synagogue a few stories tall)."
More details ahead

Policy

City releases Midtown East Rezoning plan; could add 16 new towers

Conceptual image depicting all the proposed sites of the East Midtown rezoning fully built out. Courtesy CityRealty

August 25, 2016

City releases Midtown East Rezoning plan; could add 16 new towers

By Dana Schulz

After Mayor Bloomberg's failed 2013 attempt, the city has released its long-awaited Midtown East Rezoning plan, a controversial upzoning of the area bound by Madison and Third Avenues and 39th and 50th Streets, which would encourage taller, more modern office towers in an area that many feel is no longer attracting commercial tenants. According to Crain's, their proposal, the first step in the formal rezoning process, would allow the tallest buildings around Grand Central, increasing the maximum density by 30 percent. Along Park Avenue and near subway stations north of the Terminal, density would be increased, too. The proposal also will permit owners of landmarked buildings to sell their air rights across the district, rather than just to adjacent properties like the current law dictates.
More details ahead

March 3, 2016

Stuff You Should Know: How Air Rights Work

By Diane Pham

“For whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell.” Most folks outside the architecture and real estate industries are likely to believe that putting up a new skyscraper is simply about finding an empty lot to build up. However, those in the know understand that it takes much more than a stretch of space and a good […]

Blackstone’s Purchase of Stuy Town Includes $625M in Air Rights

Photo via Wiki Commons

January 6, 2016

Blackstone’s Purchase of Stuy Town Includes $625M in Air Rights

By Dana Schulz

Photo via Wiki Commons Less than three months ago, the Blackstone Group and Ivanhoe Cambridge's colossal purchase of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village went public. At the time, it was revealed that as part of the $5.46 billion deal Blackstone would reserve 4,500 of the complex's 11,200 apartments for middle-income families for the next 20 years, with an additional 200 units set aside for low-income tenants. But what's just come to light is the $625 million worth of air rights that came along with the buy. The majority of the roughly one million square feet will be transferred elsewhere, but about 250,000 square feet will remain within Stuy Town. As the Post first reported, "These include 200,000 square feet for a community facility, 25,000 square feet for residential and 25,000 square feet for commercial use."
More details this way

Real Estate Trends

April 21, 2015

St. Patrick’s Cathedral Reveals $177M Restoration, Now What?

By Penelope Bareau

"Is that St. Patrick's Cathedral?" asked the passerby. "Yes. It's just been cleaned." "So that's why I didn't recognize it. I was looking for something gray." To the pleasure of all, St. Pat's has emerged from its cocoon and it is brilliant to behold. Scaffolding is still up inside the cathedral, sharing the space with worshippers; and work may go on through the rest of this year. It is an enormous building, after all, occuping a full city block between 50th and 51st Street, and Fifth and Madison Avenues. On the outside the building was always impressive; now it is magnificent. It makes one think of the panoply and power of the Church, stately processions, gorgeous robes, bejeweled crosses and cardinals' rings, incantations of the priests and congregation extolling the glory of God. It also makes one think of the cost—$177 million—and wonder how far that money would go to aid the poor and feed the hungry of the earth, traditional missions of Christianity. Not very far, maybe, since world hunger is not assuaged by one meal. But to be a glittering promise of sublime afterlife for millions—that is conceivably worth it.
What's next for St. Patrick's?

Uncategorized

Landmarked Religious Institutions in Midtown East Look to Change Air Rights Rules

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, via Wiki Commons

April 6, 2015

Landmarked Religious Institutions in Midtown East Look to Change Air Rights Rules

By Dana Schulz

With declining memberships, it has become a common issue among New York City religious institutions that they're land-rich but cash-poor. To solve the problem, religious leaders are turning to the sale of air rights, allowing developers to build on unused land or above the existing structure or altogether transferring the rights to an adjacent property. It's the latter trend that's become the center of debate with St. Patrick's Cathedral, along with other landmarked institutions, as they're looking to change the air rights rules to allow transfers to properties that are not directly adjacent. The Wall Street Journal takes a close look at this trend and a city plan that would allow East Midtown landmarks to sell their air rights to sites that are several blocks away.
More details ahead

November 18, 2014

Dear Developers: City Proposes Swapping Air Rights for Permanent Affordable Housing

By Diane Pham

In the ongoing battle to provide more affordable housing to New Yorkers, the city has drawn up a new proposal that might just get developers clamoring to build more below-market units. The Economic Development Corporation has issued a request for proposals from developers who would, in exchange for no-cost air rights, provide a permanently affordable housing program that maximizes the number of units available and their affordability.
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October 23, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Luxury Tower Rising Along the AirTrain; No Picket Fences for This Generation

By Diane Pham

Someone is building a luxury residential building next to the AirTrain station. The Crossing, as it’s called, will host 580 units with roof terraces and a 24-hour doorman among other amenities. [DNA Info] “No Picket Fence”. New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s are increasingly looking for appealing rentals as opposed to buying, and developers are […]

Real Estate Trends

July 1, 2014

The Air Up There: New Map Shows Untapped Development Potential of Every Manhattan Property

By Stephanie Hoina

When Extell Development, Hines and JDS Development Group tapped into air space along West 57th Street to push their projects to well above 1,000 feet, preservationist groups were up in the arms. Their outrage prompted The Municipal Art Society, a non-profit whose mission is to “fight for intelligent urban design, planning and preservation through education, dialogue and advocacy”, to create a new map showing just how much untapped development potential exists in the square footage above every property in Manhattan.
More on how the map was developed

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