Updated Draft of Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan Facilitates Increased Housing

New York City’s Department of City Planning (DCP) released an updated draft of the Midtown South Mixed-Use (MSMX) Plan intended to facilitate the creation of housing across 42 Manhattan blocks where housing is currently not permitted. The latest draft opens the door to the production of approximately 9,700 residential units, with up to 2,800-unit permanent income-restricted made possible by new, high-density, mixed-use zoning with floor area ratios (FARs) of 15 and 18 following the recent repeal of New York State’s “outdated and arbitrary ’12 FAR’ cap on housing” after successful advocacy by the city and housing advocates. The four distinct areas covered by the MSMX plan currently share the same outdated industrial zoning — roughly between 23rd and 40th Streets and 5th and 8th Avenues. The zoning proposal will also remove existing restrictions on housing outside the plan area in some of the midblock areas from West 35^th Street to West 39th Street. The lifting of the FAR cap had prompted the Adam’s administration to “swiftly” include new zoning districts with FAR above 12 as a component in the “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” proposal that is anticipated to be voted on by the City Council prior to the MSMX plan starting public review. As the first area to have these districts mapped, which would require Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, the MSMX plan will establish a new special district that would allow more floor area in buildings with the requirement that they provide critically needed public realm improvements, such as transit accessibility/facilities, Privately-Owned Public Spaces (POPS), or public indoor spaces like atriums. In addition, the newly mapped R11 and R12 districts will be paired with new M1-8A and M1-9A districts which provide a wide range of non-residential uses; and the increased FARs of 12 and 15 respectively versus the 10 FAR cap of the existing M1-6 zoning would create more opportunities for manufacturing and commercial uses resulting in a “more dynamic 24/7 mixed-use, transit-rich neighborhood with great housing and job opportunities for New Yorkers.”

Source:    https://www.nyc.gov/site/planning/about/press-releases/pr-20241031.page