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Old Posted Oct 8, 2020, 8:39 PM
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NYC Seeks To Rezone SoHo And NoHo For Affordable Housing

NYC Seeks To Rezone SoHo And NoHo For Affordable Housing


Oct. 7, 2020

By Sydney Pereira

Read More: https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-will-...rdable-housing

Quote:
Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that the city will take on a rezoning fight that will include building affordable housing in two of the city's wealthiest and historic neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, SoHo and NoHo. The strategy represents a significant departure from previous city-backed rezoning efforts that had centered on lower-income areas.

- The area targeted for rezoning would run from Astor Place down to Canal Street. The proposal would bring about 3,200 apartments to the area800 of which would be below-market rate. It would also redesign rules that currently require permitted artists to live in loft buildings once used for manufacturing under the Loft Law and remove certain bureaucratic processes currently required of new retail stores. Rent-regulated homes covered by the Loft Law would remain protected, the mayor's office said. — The area, lined with cobblestone streets and stunning cast iron loft buildings, has also long been fiercely protected by preservationists who argue that redeveloping SoHo would result in a loss of its character. But ultimately, the mayor differed. "We have an opportunity here to create affordable housing, to bring to an area that has been upper income, a greater mix of New Yorkers and to create more balance, which is something I believe in fundamentally," de Blasio said, during a press conference on Wednesday.

- Fresh off the defeat of the developer-proposed Industry City rezoning in Brooklyn, de Blasio and supporters of the plan are headed for what may be another bitter rezoning battle. Margaret Chin—a term-limited councilmember who nearly lost her re-election in part because of an affordable housing development fight in nearby Little Italy at the Elizabeth Street Garden would be a pivotal vote in the City Council under the public review process. She worked with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer for months on visioning sessions with locals on the future of the neighborhoods that led to de Blasio's announcement this week. — "As our city continues its path to rebuild and recover, the movement to secure housing justice and build inclusive neighborhoods has never been more urgent," Chin said in a statement. "Our collective recovery as a city will be determined by how our communities rise up to confront that challenge."

- Will Thomas, a board member of Open New York, the group that fought for affordable housing in SoHo, called the rezoning proposal "a historic opportunity." — "This would really change the unspoken rules around development in New York City," Thomas said. "Breaking down the exclusionary barriers of SoHo is a matter of racial justice, is a matter of housing justice, and especially right now during a pandemic, affordable housing is more needed than ever." — Last year, Open New York proposed a housing-focused plan, with support from the Housing Rights Initiative, which shifted the rezoning debate in SoHo and NoHo from the creeping incursion of commercial development to the issue of affordable housing. Since then, building housing in rich neighborhoods has become an early flashpoint in looming 2021 elections. Mayoral candidates Eric Adams and Scott Stringer have recently expressed support for building affordable housing in SoHo and NoHo.

- Thomas says the renewed push for SoHo's rezoning is now a matter of de Blasio's legacy; the mayor has faced scrutiny for exclusively rezoning low-income neighborhoods like East New York, East Harlem, and Inwood. An early community session is scheduled for October 22nd, which happens to be the same day as the local community board's monthly full board meeting. Sean Sweeney, the director of the SoHo Alliance who has opposed the rezoning, pointed to the scheduling snafu as yet another way the city has screwed up the process. He contended that the residents' concern was about mega towers that could come with a rezoning. "We want affordable housing in SoHo. We don't care who wins the lotteries," Sweeney said. "We want affordable housing, but we don't want skyscrapers and that's what we're worried about." — "This was a slum here," Sweeney added. "Over a period of 30 years, lots of affordable housing has been created, not in the creation of new buildings, but in the conversion of existing factory buildings over to rent-stabilization buildings."

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  #2  
Old Posted Oct 8, 2020, 9:28 PM
jd3189 jd3189 is offline
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Hopefully whatever was worth saving there is already landmarked.
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  #3  
Old Posted Oct 8, 2020, 11:59 PM
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Am I reading the map wrong or does the article just have a misleadingly alarmist headline? Sounds like it's a few blocks on the edges of the neighbourhood being rezoned - all of which look to have some easily developable land - not anything close to the entirety of Soho & Noho:

https://goo.gl/maps/u9SjkXu42yGtCuUA7
https://goo.gl/maps/meX4yV68VryL3JEG9
https://goo.gl/maps/HMBx32mD5ZNssvgcA
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Old Posted Oct 9, 2020, 12:37 AM
mrnyc mrnyc is offline
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i know those three strips pretty well. not much of note there. its fine and non-news. good luck to them getting past nimbys in court though.
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Old Posted Oct 9, 2020, 2:41 PM
iheartthed iheartthed is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin View Post
Am I reading the map wrong or does the article just have a misleadingly alarmist headline? Sounds like it's a few blocks on the edges of the neighbourhood being rezoned - all of which look to have some easily developable land - not anything close to the entirety of Soho & Noho:

https://goo.gl/maps/u9SjkXu42yGtCuUA7
https://goo.gl/maps/meX4yV68VryL3JEG9
https://goo.gl/maps/HMBx32mD5ZNssvgcA
Yeah, extremely alarmist. I would only consider the area at Canal and Sixth Ave to truly be SoHo, and it's not anywhere near the prime area of the neighborhood. The area at Canal and Centre St is actually Chinatown. But I guess it would be a harder political sell if they actually said it was Chinatown instead of SoHo...
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Old Posted Oct 9, 2020, 2:46 PM
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pj3000 pj3000 is offline
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This rezoning and construction could have happened years ago on these parcels, and no one would even notice.
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  #7  
Old Posted Oct 10, 2020, 12:09 AM
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chris08876 chris08876 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jd3189 View Post
Hopefully whatever was worth saving there is already landmarked.
Its not a final barrier though in terms of building but the approval is often lengthy and time consuming. The Landmarks Commission and studies. But it could be done and has been done. Major scrutiny in seeking to build, say add an addition to a landmarked structure, but it can be done.

Developers will factor this in though.

Now if we see some interior modifications or conversions, and maybe some additions that work hand-in-hand with the original structure at parcel "X", for concept, than it could in theory add some nice affordable units.

They need to rezone more of Queens and the Bronx. Those two boroughs are the future.

On a side note, the one plus with the extra scrutiny with landmarked structures is that whatever rises or is converted or modified will most likely be nice and not a pile of festering rubbish.
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Old Posted Oct 10, 2020, 12:17 AM
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chris08876 chris08876 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrnyc View Post
i know those three strips pretty well. not much of note there. its fine and non-news. good luck to them getting past nimbys in court though.
Yeah a vicious fight awaits. There is a virulent strain of NIMBYS found on the UWS. Highly pathogenic, on the UWS. SoHo could be the same way but on a side note, there is also a positive when the actual city administration favors the notion of more affordable housing.

The only thing all these court battles do is delay what will rise.

So long as the process is complete, the proper approvals and final stamp of approval to go-ahead, than things shall rise. Court is just dragging it on but developers have deep pockets.

We've seen this with Sutton Tower (rising), 200 Amsterdam (some major NIMBY bs with that one) and even the bs with Verre, but now they are gracing the skyline. Oh, and the future LES towers. Those will rise too in time but continues to face the same pathogenic side effects of the LES NIMBYS.
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Old Posted Nov 2, 2020, 7:57 PM
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Five New York City Neighborhoods to Upzone for Affordable Housing

https://rpa.org/latest/lab/rezoning-...-neighborhoods

Quote:
.....

Midwood

- Despite having excellent subway service with the B/Q and nearby F train, large swaths of Midwood only allow for detached single-family homes. Not only is building more housing in these areas nearly impossible, the existing homes can’t even be converted into duplexes. One low-rise commercial strip, Coney Island Avenue, which runs along the neighborhood, could also become a mixed-use, mixed-income thoroughfare. Further up Coney Island Avenue, the zoning is so out of date that an 8‑story self-storage facility was recently constructed directly across from Prospect Park instead of an apartment building.

Forest Hills North

- Within a five-minute walk from an express subway stop with a 20-minute one-seat ride to midtown there is a neighborhood zoned exclusively for McMansions. Not part of the historic district of Forest Hills (which is on the other side of Queens Boulevard), this area has experienced constant tear-downs of smaller single-family homes for car-oriented McMansion development. Instead, this neighborhood could easily accommodate medium-sized mixed-income apartment buildings that would be contextual with nearby areas along Queens Boulevard.

Riverdale

- Riverdale in the Northwest Bronx has long had some of the most restrictive zoning in the City, with much of it zoned exclusively for large single-family homes. It’s no surprise it’s also the wealthiest area in the Bronx. Riverdale is only half an hour from Grand Central Terminal by Metro North Railroad, and also has two express bus routes and is walking distance to the 1 train. By taking a new look at Riverdale’s restrictive zoning rules, we could allow for more affordable housing while still ensuring the neighborhood retains its natural beauty.

The Meatpacking District and the far-West Village

- Like SoHo/NoHo, much of the far-west side of Lower Manhattan is still zoned for industrial uses which have long left the neighborhood. The inability to build new apartment buildings has led the older low-rise industrial buildings to be turned into large single homes reserved for the very wealthy instead. Like SoHo/NoHo, the area has several historic districts which would prevent existing landmarks from being torn down regardless of any zoning changes. And modern mixed-income buildings are far from incompatible with nearby historic districts, they already easily co-exist on the same blocks as many historic districts, including the Ladies Mile Historic District, the Chelsea Historic District, and the NoHo Historic District itself.

.....








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