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Q&A
Office to residential conversions and related zoning changes
0:28:56
ยท
171 sec
Council Member Salamanca inquires about DCP's efforts to facilitate office to residential conversions. Director Garodnick provides a comprehensive overview of recent policy changes and initiatives in this area.
- Recent zoning changes have made an additional 36 million square feet of commercial office space eligible for residential conversion
- Conversion eligibility has been expanded citywide and the date of eligibility has been extended to 1991
- A separate Office Conversion Accelerator team exists to coordinate across city agencies and assist potential converters
- The Accelerator team reports to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, not to DCP
Rafael Salamanca
0:28:56
Alright.
0:28:57
We would like to see the potential of office to residential conversions unlock the city.
0:29:02
Has DCP created a team focused on office of residential conversions?
0:29:06
If so, how many people are on this team?
Dan Garodnick
0:29:08
So let me just start by saying that as a result of the city council's own law back in 2021, which required us to study the question of office to residential conversions and make recommendations, that was a task force that came out of a bill passed by the city council.
0:29:27
I had the privilege of chairing that task force.
0:29:29
It made recommendations as to what we could do to speed up the process for office to residential conversions.
0:29:36
That was incorporated into City of Yes for Housing opportunity.
0:29:40
And as a result of the changes that you all adopted, we have now allowed for another 36,000,000 square feet of commercial office space to be eligible to convert to residential.
0:29:54
That's more office space than exists in the entire city of Philadelphia by way of illustration.
0:29:59
We made it not any longer limited by geography to Manhattan and immediate surrounding areas.
0:30:06
We made it citywide.
0:30:07
We changed the date of eligibility from 1961 or 1977 here in Lower Manhattan to 1991, and we allowed for the conversion to different types of housing.
0:30:18
At this point, we at the Department of City Planning, you know, turn it over to private industry to explore the opportunities that we have now presented to them, which is many more opportunities and through the tax abatement incentive, which was passed by Albany, Four Sixty Seven Ms, an opportunity for many more buildings to have a look at converting from office to residential.
0:30:44
The city also does have an accelerator, which is designed to coordinate across various city agencies to make it easier for buildings, building owners, or their representatives to explore what they need to do to actually convert a building from office to residential.
0:31:02
That is not housed at the Department of City Planning, it is housed separately.
0:31:06
But it's an effort to try to coordinate across whether it's the Landmarks Commission, the Department of Buildings, the Fire Department, etcetera, all relevant agencies, and also to help advise potential applicants, potential converters as to what exactly they need
Rafael Salamanca
0:31:20
to do.
0:31:22
So is there a team specifically for this?
Dan Garodnick
0:31:26
At the Department of City Planning, no.
0:31:27
There is a team that exists, but it is not at the Department of City Planning.
0:31:31
The New York City office conversion accelerator lives elsewhere in City Hall, but it exists.
Rafael Salamanca
0:31:37
And they do you know what's the headcount for their team?
Dan Garodnick
0:31:40
Do I know the headcount?
0:31:42
I do not offhand.
0:31:42
I'm sorry.
0:31:43
And who do they report to?
0:31:45
They report to the deputy mayor for economic development.