[De Minimis NY]

^^ The Roosevelt Hotel is a solid representation of its era with really great street presence. I'd be willing sacrifice it for something of the quality of 111 57th street or Torre Verre, but it would be hard to argue that it's not preferable to 90% of new development out there.

None of that should really matter much if the newly created development rights are freely transferable, though.

We're going to get a fixed amount of new FAR either way. Would it not be better to concentrate those new zoning rights on ugly sites (and end up with relatively taller towers) than spread it out across a greater number of sites, with a plateau of relatively shorter towers, and lose gems like the Roosevelt in the process?

I felt the same way when I saw the destruction of the Bancroft Building for that new HFZ condo. It's bittersweet, as it's great to see new designs going up, but you can't help but wish they could have put the new tower on one of the many ugly sites in the neighborhood.

Well, with liberal landmarking and transferable development rights you can create the conditions to do just that.