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Under state laws designed to remedy a housing shortage, the city has to set aside land for the construction of 250,000 more homes than allowed through existing zoning rules. Measures under consideration by a City Council committee are likely to satisfy the state requirements, the UCLA analysis found. But when analyzing the likelihood of what developers would actually build, researchers found the number of new homes would be far lower. — LA Times
The L.A. City Council is expected to vote later this afternoon to approve the rezoning measure. The report's co-author Shane Phillips of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies says the city would be better served if its generous slate of incentives was expanded to cover the... View full entry
Things appear to be moving forward for Denver’s proposed KSE-Ball Arena Redevelopment following the approval of a rezoning application from Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects (SAR+). The plan connects 75 acres around the 25-year-old sports venue to the future River Mile Development and other... View full entry
Mayor Eric Adams proposed on Thursday a major overhaul of New York City’s approach to development that his administration says could make way for as many as 100,000 additional homes in the coming years and ease the city’s severe housing crisis. [...]
The proposals could bring new housing development to nearly every corner of New York City and reflect a growing political consensus that the city must do everything it can to build.
— The New York Times
In last week's announcement of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan, several measures designed to achieve the declared goal of adding 100,000 new residential units were listed, including the end of parking mandates for new housing, the legalization of ADUs, encouraging shared living and... View full entry
New York City officials announced plans on Thursday to ease the conversion of office buildings to housing and to open manufacturing areas south of Times Square to new residential development, as part of a broader push to reinvent the struggling business district in Midtown Manhattan and address the city’s housing crisis. — The New York Times
The news comes after the revelation last week that a total of zero new housing starts were approved in Manhattan in the month of July. The Adams administration previously announced its desire to create 40,000 new residential units through the adaptive reuse of office buildings. The rezoned area... View full entry
These conversions seem like a win-win: turning a plethora of barely used office space into desperately needed urban housing.
But converting offices into apartments is easier said than done. And while it's easy to imagine the process behind conversions, like adding in walls and plumbing, it gets complicated.
— NPR
Various cities across the United States have been turning to office-to-residential conversions as a way to address declining city cores that have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. As noted by NPR, San Francisco is making way for these conversions by adjusting current building codes and getting rid... View full entry
Mayor Eric Adams and the trust that oversees Governors Island have outlined a sweeping vision for its future as an innovation hub for climate education and research and an incubator for bold solutions. Teams from four universities are preparing final proposals, which are due on August 15th. But a pending lawsuit presents a potential hang-up for those plans and the parties are due in state Supreme Court on Tuesday morning. — Gothamist
Last year, the New York City Council voted to rezone the southern end of Governor’s Island, paving the way for 3.7 million square feet of new development, including office, hotel, and retail space. The plan also includes a move to establish a long-awaited climate research center. However, the... View full entry
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s controversial plan to rezone Gowanus is poised to move forward, fulfilling a decade-old ambition that aims to increase development and affordability in the fast-changing industrial enclave. The deal was approved by the City Council’s Land Use Committee on Wednesday, after the administration agreed to additional investments in public housing and sewer infrastructure. — Gothamist
The plan will pave the way for 8,000 new apartments to be built over the next decade, with more than a third reserved for low-income residents. The City Council’s Land Use Committee backed the proposal unanimously after last-minute negotiations between the mayor and two local council members... View full entry
The future of Soho and Noho is now up to the City Council. The City Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a high-profile proposal to rezone the neighborhoods, largely to allow for more residential and ground-floor retail. The proposal covers 56 blocks in the neighborhoods, largely zoned for manufacturing use — despite the area’s reputation as a prime retail destination. — The Real Deal
In support of the plan, City Planning Commission Chair Anita Laremont said: “The plan significantly advances New York City’s equity and inclusivity goals, helps to address our severe and ongoing housing crisis and serves to speed New York City's economic recovery.” According to The... View full entry
After a pair of marathon hearings, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission has amended and approved the draft DTLA 2040 plan, sending the proposed rezoning of the city's Downtown core on to the City Council for consideration next. — Urbanize LA
The area has been particularly beset by the pandemic, which is being seen more and more as a potential hub for housing in the city (and state) whose political landscape is increasingly shaped by affordability issues. Ten new land use designations, proposed under the DTLA 2040 plan for... View full entry
Mayor Bill de Blasio is one step closer to realizing his goal of adding tens of thousands of units of affordable housing in New York City, after a key panel passed the city’s plan to rezone a swath of industrial properties surrounding the Gowanus Canal — Commercial Observer
The proposal was approved by nine of the ten New York City Planning Commission members in a vote earlier this week. The plan calls for the rezoning of an 82-block section of Gowanus, along Fourth Avenue, between Atlantic Avenue and 15th Street. It would pave the way for the construction of up to... View full entry
So it was, in a sense, good news that the nonprofit Trust for Governors Island released a proposal on Monday to rezone disused parts of the island, long set aside for economic redevelopment.
It’s an aspirational plan, more than anything. The goal, which has been circulating for a while, is to incubate a new climate research center. Similar ideas have been advanced for decades on Governors Island.
— The New York Times
Yankee Pier Plaza. Image courtesy of WXY architecture + urban design/bloomimages. NYT architecture critic Michael Kimmelman on the recently announced plan by the Trust for Governors Island to develop a center for climate solutions, designed by WXY architecture + urban design, on parts of the... View full entry
The developers behind the distinct supertall at 432 Park Avenue want to take a second shot at altering New York City’s skyline. Harry Macklowe submitted last week a preliminary application to the city’s planning department for a 1,551-foot-tall skyscraper between 51st and 52nd Streets in... View full entry
Sutton Place residents filed a lawsuit Sunday in a last-ditch attempt to stop a luxury condo tower from rising on East 58th Street.
The plaintiffs, a group called the East River Fifties Alliance, are residents from the surrounding neighborhood, including condo owners whose views would be blocked by a roughly 800-foot tower under construction at 430 E. 58th St.
— crainsnewyork.com
Construction on NYC's Sutton 58 condo project was previously halted after Sutton Place residents secured a rezoning proposal. The rezoning mandated squatter buildings making Sutton 58 noncompliant. Since then a city zoning board granted the project a reprieve, resulting in the resident's lawsuit... View full entry
... the project will create 900 apartments, some of which will be located within a 986-foot skyscraper, which would become the borough’s second-tallest tower if built; it would also have cultural space, two schools, and retail. The development has divided locals and elected officials; some tout the fact that the development will bring two schools to the neighborhood along with 200 permanently affordable apartments, but others [...] feel the project is too out of scale with the neighborhood. — Curbed NY
residents are taking aim at the disruption caused by construction, the uprooting of cherished institutions, the buildings’ designs and the ever-higher prices attached to the housing that they fear will alter neighborhoods fundamentally. — NYT
C. J. Hughes examines how some NYC residents are reacting to an ongoing boom in construction, enabled/exemplified by the rezoning of 37 percent of the city under the Bloomberg administration. From filing noise complaints, pushing for height moratoriums, to fighting against the loss of public... View full entry
