New Report Recommends NYC Zoning Reform to Aid Economic Recovery

Key zoning changes could boost real-estate investment as the city emerges from the current recession

NEW YORK, NY — As New York City charts its way out of the current recession, real estate will be a critical component of a successful recovery. Typically, as prices fall and vacancies rise, opportunities for new investment are created. But the coming recovery may be held back by onerous zoning restrictions, according to a new Manhattan Institute report by adjunct fellow Eric Kober. The report suggests a series of zoning changes that would help boost investment by making it easier to reuse vacant space and redevelop properties that have lost value in a changing economy.

Vacant space leads to disinvestment, blight, and lowered tax revenues—but is also an opportunity. When vacant buildings are reused for new purposes or redeveloped, restaurants can become bicycle shops, hotels can become housing, and warehouses can become apartments with ground-floor retail. This type of adaptive investment, according to Kober, creates the jobs and tax revenue that will help lead the recovery.

In order to loosen restrictions on this growth, Kober recommends a series of reforms, including:

• Eliminating residential and commercial parking requirements wherever possible and appropriate;
• Rezoning commercial districts with transit access to allow housing without required parking;
• Loosening affordability requirements on housing in rezoned areas;
• Creating more flexible zoning rules to allow for more varied commercial uses “as of right”; and
• Allowing surplus hotels to be converted into residences.

Click here to read the full report.