One of the many results of the 2024 “City of Yes” rezoning is it allows air rights from individual NYC landmarks to be transferred over a much broader area, and with much less public review or oversight (individual NYC landmarks could always transfer their air rights to neighboring lots and directly across the street, but subject to a robust public review and approval process). On the one hand, this allows owners of individual landmarks (a fraction of whom are nonprofits or religious institutions) to generate revenue, some of which must be dedicated to maintaining the landmark, without having to build upon or alter the landmarked site. On the other, it allows bigger development to take place in the surrounding area without any real public input or detailed information about how the air rights will be used. Individual landmark air rights can increase the allowable size of a development by up to 20%; this comes on top of some other allowances and changes resulting from “City of Yes” that already allowed new development on most sites in our neighborhood to increase by 20% or more.

The first example of this in our neighborhood is St. Marks-in-the-Bowery Church at Second Avenue and 10th Street, one of our city’s first individual landmarks, and the city’s oldest site of continuous religious worship. The church recently agreed to transfer about 28,000 sq. ft. of its air rights to a developer who is building on a large site on the west side of Third Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets. The church must dedicate a portion of those proceeds toward ensuring its building, which is in parts more than two centuries old and has faced many challenges over the years, is well maintained and repaired as needed, with the remainder of the proceeds serving other elements of their charitable and religious mission. 

The church, a deeply valued cornerstone of the community, submitted a detailed maintenance plan for the building, which will help ensure it remains in good repair over the years ahead, and engaged the public extensively about their plans. However, unlike in the past, the developer who will receive the air rights is not required to disclose to the public any plans about how they will be used, nor will there be any sort of meaningful public oversight or approval process. At the time that “City of Yes” was being considered, Village Preservation expressed deep concerns about these elements of the rules changes, and called for them to be reconsidered.

Mayor Mamdani has just convened a new Charter Revision Commission or “Commission on Government Efficiency” that has recommended multiple changes to city laws to be put before voters in November. One element of those recommendations is to eliminate some of the still-existing oversight for air rights being sold from individual city-owned landmarks. Village Preservation is taking a close look at the proposal and will report back to the public about the potential impacts well in advance of the November vote.