Eric Adams shares his proposal to convert vacant offices into New York City housing

NEW YORK — After a record year for affordable housing production in all five boroughs, despite a severe housing shortage, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the director of the Department of Urban Planning (DCP) of New York City, Dan Garodnick, today took three important steps to build much needed new housing throughout the city, including by devising a plan to convert vacant offices into housing as part of the “City of of Yes” by Mayor Adams.

The Adams administration is also launching an Office Conversion Accelerator to expedite complex office-to-home conversion projects, speeding the process of creating new housing and putting millions of vacant office square feet to better use for New Yorkers. . Finally, the Adams administration today kicked off the “Midtown South Neighborhood Plan,” a community planning process that will update zoning rules that currently only allow manufacturing and office space to foster a vibrant 24-hour work-live community. of the day, 7 days a week, with new houses and good job opportunities.

While Albany did not take critical steps in the 2023 legislative session that would have made it easier to convert offices into affordable housing, the city can act through the land use review process to change zoning citywide and expand the flexibility needed for these projects.

With the proposed changes, which Mayor Adams first outlined in collaboration with the City Council in January 2023 and highlighted again in March and May, the office-to-residential conversions could produce 20,000 new homes for 40,000 New Yorkers over the next decade. This proposal will be part of Mayor Adams’ upcoming “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” citywide zoning text amendment that will unlock the potential for more new housing in every corner of the city. While Mayor Adams has committed a record $24 billion to affordable housing, and while the city can act to rezoning and allow conversions, it would still take state action for office-to-home conversions to produce a substantial amount of new affordable housing. If the state again fails to act in the next legislative session, the city’s progress in addressing the affordable housing crisis could stall.

“I’ve said it before: New York City is the ‘Yes City,’ and today we say yes to a thriving economy, yes to thriving business districts, and yes to creating more homes for New Yorkers,” the mayor said. Adams. “Today, as part of our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ plan, we open the door to more housing, with a proposal that will allow us to create up to 20,000 new homes where the owner of the building wants to convert offices into housing, but needs help to overcome bureaucratic red tape. With these three initiatives—conversion of vacant offices to housing, an Office Conversion Accelerator, and the Midtown South Mixed-Use Neighborhood Plan—we continue to use all the tools at our disposal to increase the supply of housing for New Yorkers.”

Converting empty offices into homes

Under proposed actions to facilitate office conversions, the looser regulations would extend to an additional 136 million square feet of office space, roughly the amount of office space in the entire city of Philadelphia, though individual owners will ultimately decide. instance if they convert their buildings The zoning changes would make buildings built before 1990 eligible to be converted to housing (an update of the existing 1961 and 1977 limits in several areas) and would allow offices and other non-residential buildings to be converted in housing anywhere in the city where housing is permitted under zoning. They would also allow conversions to a broader variety of housing types, including supportive housing, shared housing, and dormitories.

Mayor Adams’ “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” with this proposal to facilitate office conversion, will begin public engagement this fall and will be formally submitted in early 2024.

To further utilize all the tools in the City’s toolbox to enable the conversion of vacant offices and create much-needed new housing, Mayor Adams launched a new Office Conversions Accelerator, comprised of experts from across City government. city, to work with office building owners to promote conversion opportunities. . Led by Get Stuff Built CEO Robert Holbrook, the accelerator will bring together representatives from the City Council, DCP, New York City Department of Buildings (DOB), New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York City, the Board of Standards and Appeals, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), and others to bring together city resources to help property owners with complex conversion projects, from analyzing the feasibility of individual projects to help obtain the necessary permits.

Starting Thursday, owners and applicants can reach out online to seek help from the accelerator.

Creating affordable housing and good jobs in Midtown (Manhattan)

While advancing citywide action to create housing, the Adams administration continues efforts at the neighborhood level to support jobs, economic growth, and vibrant communities in business districts like Midtown Manhattan. Released today, the Midtown South Mixed-Use Neighborhood Plan will update outdated zoning to foster a 24/7 live-work mixed-use neighborhood in the area between 23rd Street and 40th Street from Fifth Avenue to Eighth Avenue.

The plan, which will cover four areas designated for manufacturing half a century ago, could, for the first time, allow construction of new housing, including permanent affordable housing, in the heart of Manhattan with access to economic opportunity and public transportation where they are not allowed. New homes based on current zoning.

The plan will explore opportunities to enable the conversion of non-residential buildings to housing, support economic growth and create jobs to support families, and continue to drive the city’s economic recovery.
Additionally, the Midtown South Mixed-Use Neighborhood Plan will explore zoning and non-zoning tools to support local businesses and create good jobs in an area that already has 135,000 jobs and more than 7,000 businesses.

Public participation is expected to begin this fall.

“New York City is in the midst of a serious housing crisis, and we must do everything in our power to address it,” said New York City Council Majority Leader Keith Powers. “Converting empty office buildings to apartments is an obvious course of action that must be pursued aggressively. The proposals announced today will speed conversions and help create thousands of much-needed housing units.”