Two-story Midtown South building to become 32-story tower with 95 apartments
30 West 37th Street © 2022 Google
A vacant two-story Midtown South commercial building will become a 32-story residential tower, marking the first permits filed in New York City for a high-density development under new zoning laws. On Monday, Sioni Group filed plans to construct a 95-unit apartment building at 28 West 37th Street, the commercial building the group applied to demolish in February, according to Crain’s. The project is the first to take advantage of the R-12 high-density zoning, introduced after the state lifted the floor area ratio (FAR) cap to allow greater residential density.
According to the city’s Department of City Planning, the permits filed by Sioni Group mark the first for a high-density R12 apartment building.
“For decades, the FAR cap limited the size of new buildings. Now, with the cap repealed & Midtown South Plan in place, two stories on 37th St will become 32 — with permanently affordable housing,” the agency wrote in a post on X.
Sioni Group plans to build an approximately 86,000-square-foot mixed-use building at the site, which would include 95 apartments, about 450 square feet of commercial space, and a 20-foot rear yard. C3D Architecture’s Damir Sehic is listed as the architect of record.
The new R-12 districts were created under former Mayor Eric Adams’ “City of Yes” housing plan, passed by the City Council in December 2024. After the state lifted the 12 FAR cap for residential buildings, the landmark zoning overhaul introduced citywide reforms aimed at boosting housing production, including the creation of the R-11 and R-12 districts, which allow for high-density development with floor area ratio (FAR) caps of 15 and 18, respectively.
The project also falls within the broader Midtown South Mixed-Use (MSMX) plan, which rezones 42 blocks, allowing for approximately 9,500 new homes. The rezoning spans four quadrants of Midtown between 23rd and 40th Streets and 5th and 8th Avenues, an area home to more than 7,000 businesses and 135,000 jobs.
Office-to-residential conversions, another key tool in the MSMX plan, are expected to add roughly 781 homes, according to The Real Deal.
As 6sqft previously reported, the first residential project coming to Midtown South following the rezoning is an office-to-residential conversion at 29 West 35th Street. Developers will turn the century-old building into 107 studio apartments, with 27 designated affordable via the 467-m tax abatement program.
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