New York’s priciest business district — and one of the most iconic on the planet — will go on steroids, if City Hall gets its way.
Mayor Bloomberg is racing before he leaves office to rezone more than 70 blocks of midtown between E. 39th and E. 57th Sts.
His proposal, avidly backed by the real estate industry, would allow property owners in and around Grand Central Terminal and along Madison and Park Aves. to demolish their buildings and replace them with a raft of new skyscrapers — some nearly as tall as the Empire State Building.
The plan would literally transform Manhattan’s skyline while adding tens of thousands of commuters to an area where transit stations are already strained to capacity.
That’s why community leaders keep asking: Why the hurry to approve this before the next mayor comes in?
“The future of New York is too valuable to be rushed for political timetables,” said Wally Rubin, district manager of Manhattan Community Board 5.
“The rezoning of Hudson Yards (on Manhattan’s far West Side) took five years of public discussion,” Rubin said. “This is far bigger and even more important.”
City officials claim developers will pay big fees for the right to build higher, and that money will fund up to $500 million in needed improvements to the 42nd St. and 53rd St. subway stations and to neighborhood streets.
The area has to be rebuilt to remain competitive with global financial centers like Hong Kong and London, Bloomberg aides insist.
Sure, top-flight midtown buildings still command sky-high rents, they say, but too many of those buildings were built more than 50 years ago and are getting antiquated.
In April, the City Planning Commission will unveil its proposal, triggering a legally required six-month review process that will end with a final vote by the City Council in October.
Neighborhood Councilman Dan Garodnick sees no guarantee that needed subway improvements will occur, since developer payments will trickle in over many years.
“We need a financial commitment from the city to those improvements as a precondition,” Garodnick said.
Community leaders also want to know why the city has proposed a flat bargain price of just $250 per square foot for new air rights anywhere in the 70-block area.
That “goes against the real estate principle that price depends on location, location, location,” Rubin said.
It will lead to huge windfalls for some developers. Last month, for example, one developer paid $600 per square foot for air rights owned by Christ Church at E. 60th St. and Park Ave.
If Bloomberg “is going to move full throttle ahead [with his plan],” Garodnick said, then the Council will “amend it appropriately if we need to.”
