Midtown South Mixed Use Plan (MSMX): Office Conversions and How the Area Will Likely Get Rezoned (Part 1 of 2)

Here at PropertyScout we've been?fielding a lot of questions about what might happen in the Midtown South rezoning, so I am going to share my thoughts here.

This will be Part 1 of 2 of a review of the potential Midtown South rezoning. Using the map of Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan (MSMX) provided by the DCP, Part 1 will review the current zoning maps and residential zoning regulations, the surrounding zoning maps, and aggegrated building data in MSMX. We will also look at building data from the recent Soho rezoning for a comparison.

Part 2 will do a deep dive into the current building stock in Midtown South focusing on conversions in office buildings, which make up 50% of the total number of buildings and 67% of the total floor area. By analyzing current zoning regulations and maps, other MX rezonings like the Soho rezoning, and the current building stock, I hope to shed some light on what may change with a rezoning of Midtown South.

First, if you would like to be alerted to Part 2 and a downloadable list of all buildings/sites in MSMX with data points such as built rear yard, FAR as built, and FAR with a potential rezoning, please click this link.

This week we added a map layer to PropertyScout outlining all of the current DCP zoning Initiatives in NYC, including the proposed Midtown South plan. (Existing users of PropertyScout can view the new map here.) On the DCP website, these are called "Initiatives" and they look at economic and land use data to find patterns that can be used to advance policy like a zoning text or zoning map amendment (IE a "rezoning"). Many of these "Initiatives" become rezonings via ULURPS (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure). The plans can be led by the DCP, a Community Board, or a mix of community members and outside stakeholders. There's some great info on these projects on the DCP website but there is not any resource that consolidates all the maps into a single map layer. We've done that here.

Because the Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan is so new, there is very little info on the DCP site. All we really have is four bullet points:

• Introducing housing, including permanently affordable housing
• Potential for office-to-residential conversions
• Preservation of important commercial and light manufacturing uses
• Investments in neighborhood improvements

Current Zoning Maps in Midtown South

First, let's orient ourselves. The "Midtown South" neighborhood is the area roughly between 30th and 40th street and 5th and 8th avenue. The proposed MSMX plan stretches roughly from 23rd street to 40th street and between 5th and 8th avenue, encompassing not only the "Midtown South" neighborhood but also the neighborhoods known as Nomad, the Garment Center, and a portion of northeast Chelsea.

The proposed area of study intersects with all or part of four main zoning layers in the Zoning Resolution:

• M1-6 and M1-6D zoning districts
• Garment Center special purpose districts
• Inclusionary housing districts
• Other maps in the Zoning Resolution described in ZR 15-021 (Use regulations for dwelling units in M1-5 and M1-6)

Zoning Districts

The proposed area of study is made of of 4 areas: three areas of M1-6 zoning districts and one area made up of M1-6 and M1-6D zoning districts in the south west. Notice that the M1-5 zone to the north of the M1-6D has been omitted, as well as a very small portion of M1-6 north of West 30th street on the eastern side of M1-5.

This image below shows the zoning layer and the DCP zoning initiatives layer in PropertyScout:

Other Zoning Resolution Maps

In addition, the proposed MSMX plan intersects with other areas described in the Zoning Resolution in ZR 15-021(c), ZR 15-021(d) and ZR 42-133.

Per ZR 15-021:

(c) In M1-5 and M1-6 Districts located within the rectangle formed by West 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue, West 31st Street and Eighth Avenue, no new dwelling units shall be permitted...

(d)?In M1-6 Districts located within the rectangle formed by West 35th Street, Fifth Avenue, West 40th Street and Sixth Avenue, no dwelling units shall be permitted...

As you can see above, in PropertyScout, we have a map layer for these maps from the Zoning Resolution called ZR Special Maps. In the Zoning Resolution, in addition to zoning district maps and zoning special district maps, there are over 200 maps that are either shown visually as a map, usually in the appendix of the chapters, or described as text in the body of the chapter, like we have here in ZR 15-021. These can be very important areas where zoning regulations such as height, use, or floor area may change from the underlying district regulations. Often these maps go unnoticed because, as of this writing, you cannot find them on any other private or public website like ZOLA.

Special Purpose Garment District

In the map above, we see three of the four areas intersect with a special ZR map, but the largest area in the Northwest does not. Instead, this area partially intersects with the Garment Center Special District. Note, the portion above 40th street does not.

Inclusionary Housing District

Finally, the small M1-6D portion has an inclusionary housing (IH) overlay. Note there is no IH or MIH overlay in any of the other area currently.

Current Zoning Regulations in Midtown South

M1-6D Residential Use

Currently, M1-6D in MSMX allows residential use (Use Group 2) as-of-right for buildings less than 40,000 sf and by CPC certification for a building over 40,000 sf per ZR 42-481. However, the conversion of non-residential floor area to dwelling units is only permitted for buildings built before 1977 per ZR 15-012. All bulk regulations for M1-6D can be found in ZR 43-62. The floor area regulations are as follows:

• 9.0 residential base FAR
• 12.0 residential ih FAR
• 10.0 commercial / manufacturing / facility FAR

M1-6 Residential Use

Currently, M1-6 districts in MSMX does not allow residential use except if that residential use existed on or before 1980/1981 per ZR 42-133:

(a)?In M1-5 and M1-6 Districts, except for M1-6D Districts, located within the rectangle formed by West 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue, West 31st Street, and Eighth Avenue, no new dwelling units shall be permitted. However, dwelling units which the Chairperson of the City Planning Commission determines were occupied on September 1, 1980, shall be a permitted use...

(b)??In M1-6 Districts located within the rectangle formed by West 35th Street, Fifth Avenue, West 40th Street and Sixth Avenue, no dwelling units shall be permitted, except that:(1)??dwelling units which the Chairperson of the City Planning Commission determines were occupied on May 18, 1981, shall be a permitted use...

The floor area regulations for commercial and manufacturing are as follows:

• 10.0 commercial FAR
• 10.0 manufacturing FAR
• 10.0 facility FAR

Height regulations follow ZR 43-40 and towers are allowed per ZR 45-45. Standard height regulations are as follows:

• 85 feet base height
• 2.7 / 5.6 sky exposure plane (narrow / wide)
• 3.7 / 7.6 alternate sky exposure plane (narrow / wide)

A 20 story tower in M1-6 on a narrow street would look like this:

The rest of the bulk regulations can be found in ZR 43-00.

Garment Center

The Garment Center (GC) Special Purpose District has additional regulations. GC is broken into Subdistrict 1 and Subdistrict 2. Only GC Subdistrict 1 exists in the Midtown South MSMX Plan. There are no special district overrides for floor area in GC Subdistrict 1. However, the arcade bonus and the plaza bonus on narrow streets are not allowed per ZR 121-31.

In the Garment Center Special District, there are special height regulations, notably base height per ZR 121-32(b):

• 125 - 155** feet BASE HEIGHT (wide street or within 50 feet of wide street)
• 85 - 135 feet BASE HEIGHT (narrow street beyond 50 feet of wide street)** on wide streets base height can be increased up to 205 feet if the adjacent street wall rises to a height greater than 155 feet.
• Maximum height follows tower regulations in ZR 45-45

A 20 story tower on a narrow street in M1-6 Garment Center Subarea 1 would look like this. Note, the higher base height here in the Garment Center than in the other M1-6 districts.

What is Midtown South going to get rezoned to?

Let's return to the four bullet points the DCP has highlighted for Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan. I've labeled these with numbers below for discussion:

1. Introducing housing, including permanently affordable housing
2. Potential for office-to-residential conversions
3. Preservation of important commercial and light manufacturing uses
4. Investments in neighborhood improvements

1. Introducing housing, including permanently affordable housing

There are two parts of this:

• (a) housing in general and
• (b) permanent affordable housing

For (b), this means MIH Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. And likely it will be applied everywhere in MSMX like it was applied everywhere in the Soho rezoning in 2021. See Soho Neighborhood Plan on the DCP or in the Zoning Resolution in ZR 143-00.

For (a), likely residential will be added everywhere, as was the case in the Soho rezoning of M1-5A and M1-5B. The main difference between Midtown South and the Soho rezoning is that Soho was mostly M1-5 and MSMX is all M1-6. M1-6 generally pairs with a R10 district in most rezonings. Here is a list of number of lots (count_bbl) currently in M1-6 MX districts broken down by district.

You can see the majority of M1-6 rezonings get paired with R10.

We can look at the surrounding zoning districts for further clues. Below is a MSMX map with the surrounding zoning district equivalents written in white. I've labeled these areas 1,2,3,4.

Surrounding all of the two northern areas of MSMX above 35th street (1 and 2 on the map) are commercial districts with R10 equivalents.

Surrounding the two southern areas of MSMX below 31st Street (3 and 4 on the map) are commercial districts with a mix of equivalents of R8-R10:

• R10, mostly to the north of 31st street and west of 5th ave
• R10X, between the two areas running along 6th ave F subway
• R8 and R9X, mostly to the south, below 23rd street, and to the west

Based on the above, it is very likely that both the two northern areas of MSMX above 35th street will be paired with a R10 district. If the DCP seeks to mirror the existing "as-built" building stock, the two southern areas of MSMX below 31st street will likely be paired with R9 or R10.

However, this would be a very simple prediction from the current zoning data and maps. To make a more accurate prediction, let's take a look at the building stock in the Soho Rezoning from 2021, which is also a mixed-use (MX) rezoning.

Soho Rezoning in 2021

Soho/Noho got rezoned in 12/15/21. What's shocking is the dearth of new development in Soho/ Noho since the rezoning. In PropertyScout I looked at both conversions (A1 - Alteration) and ground up (NB - New Building) applications filed since 12/15/2019. I chose to look a full 2 years before the Soho rezoning in the event there were any large projects that got a jump start on the rezoning.

Because so little activity has happened in SNX Soho/Noho and only 2 of these projects are permitted (these 2 projects introduce 1 new unit a piece), we can look at the average built height and average built FAR of the current entire building stock and compare that against what is now permitted:

As you can see from the building and zoning data, for the R10 districts, the rezoning in Soho more than tripled the permitted height and permitted FAR. What this means is the average building in Soho currently in R10 could now triple its height and triple its FAR. For the R9A district, the height increased by about 80% and the FAR did not increase. For the R9X district, the height increased by > 100% and the FAR by about 80%.

Aggregated Building Data in Midtown South

Now, let's look at the aggregated building data of what exists currently in Midtown South and compare that against Soho.

As you can see, almost every areas in Midtown South exceeds both the average height and average built FAR in Soho. If the DCP were to follow the same methodology of Soho, they would rezone the entire Midtown South to R10 (if not higher, which it cannot do!)

Based on this and the surrounding zoning equivalents, I find it very possible the entire rezoning in Midtown South will be paired with a R10 district. Maximum FAR for MIH will be 12.0. What will height regulations be in the newly rezoned Midtown South R10? Will towers be allowed? Will height be restricted to a maximum of 275 feet like M1-6/R10 in Soho rezoning? For this, please tune in next week.

Conclusion of Part 1

In Midtown South neighborhood, we looked at the current zoning maps and regulations, the surrounding districts, massings, the Soho rezoning, and some aggregrated building data. These maps, massings, and data points give us strong clues into what a potential rezoning in Midtown South could look like.

Next week, I hope you tune in for Part 2, which focus on office building conversions and potential height regulations. If you would like to be alerted to Part 2, please subscribe to our newsletter.