Mayor Adams Announces City Hall’s Office-to-Residential Conversion Plan

Yesterday, Mayor Eric Adams Office Adaptive Reuse Task Force ("OARTF") released the New York City Office Adaptive Reuse Study, which offers recommendations that, if implemented, will allow for the conversion and adaptive reuse of office buildings for housing purposes.

To facilitate these changes, the OARTF recommends that changes be made to the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law and the New York City Zoning Resolution. These and other proposed changes include the following:

1. That the flexible conversion regulations in Article 1, Chapter 5 of the Zoning Resolution should apply to all high-intensity commercial districts (areas designated as C4, C5, or C6 zoning districts);
2. An evaluation of whether several districts located between West 23^rd Street and West 41^st Street – which are currently zoned for manufacturing uses – should be rezoned to allow for residential uses;
3. That offices be allowed to convert to a broader range of in-demand forms of housing (e.g. supportive housing), as opposed to the current framework which only allows for conversions to “dwelling units” (as defined in the Zoning Resolution);
4. That changes be made to the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law which will allow for residential uses to exceed a maximum floor area ratio of 12.0 when converted from office use;
5. A property tax-based incentive be created to support mixed-income housing within office conversions; and
6. A property tax abatement be implemented to incentivize retrofitting space for childcare centers.

The OARTF’s proposed zoning changes would have to go through the City’s land use review process, while the OARTF’s proposed changes to the New York State Multipole Dwelling Law would require approvals from the State legislature.

We will continue to monitor these initiatives and will provide updates as more details arise. Additional details are available through the following website: Office Adaptive Reuse Task Force: Overview - DCP (nyc.gov).

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For more information on this issue or other land use & zoning matters, please contact:

Mitchell A. Korbey at +1 212 592 1483 or [email protected]
Robert Huberman at +1 212 592 1592 or [email protected]
Vinh Van Vo at +1 212 592 1588 or [email protected]

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