Quote:
Originally Posted by 599GTO
Why Park Avenue? Park Ave is so beautiful! How about rezoning all of 3rd Avenue which is all crap.
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They are not just picking Avenues, they are picking location - the heart of Midtown. The heart of this great city just can't be left to rot because some want to preserve all of it as a museum to yesteryear. At the same time, you are not going to see whole blocks demolished like some urban renewal plan from years ago.
The plan is in the early stages, but they are discussing allowing more density (if it can be believed) into what is arguably the densest office district in the world (lower Manhattan is pretty dense). Some buildings would likely be razed. Of course, buildings that are no longer attracting those "Class A" office tenants can be converted to other uses, but in the process you would be converting the district into something else as well. The plan is to keep it as a top corporate district in Manhattan, even as the City expands elsewhere.
As mentioned in the article, there are questions whether this would conflict with redeveloping the west side or lower Manhattan. But realisticly speaking, I see Midtown, Downtown, and the Hudson Yards area as 3 distinct business districts in Manhattan. We already know there are companies that will never move Downtown, no matter how much cheaper it is than Midtown. Likewise, there will always be companies that - given a choice - would prefer the more established, world known addresses like 5th, Park, and Madison Avenues than the up and coming Hudson Yards district (Hudson Boulevard isn't built yet). They will compete to a degree, but one will be a preference for some over the others.
By most standards, there are already a lot of big buildings in the area. But by today's standards, the buildings would be bigger. A building of the same size would likely be taller. But unlike the blank slate in the Hudson Yards district, this area is highly developed already. Demolition is the only way you are going to get
more here, and more seems to be the key word. It's not only a matter of just trying to use what is already there.
In the google earth photo below, you see the area of the potential Midtown rezoning (right) and the new Hudson Yards district (left).