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Old Posted Jan 5, 2022, 2:07 PM
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gttx gttx is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: New York, New York
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
Maybe I'm ignorant, but in what world would a developer not try to go really tall here to take advantage of the amazing Park-adjacent location? Does current zoning prevent a 40+ floor tower here?
Despite being literally across the street from Time Warner Center, this block is in the Special Lincoln Square District (the boundary runs through the center of 60th Street), and as such is subject to height and bulk rules that limit the ability to go tall. These are more commonly known as "bulk packing" where the building must use a certain percentage of its floor area below a certain height, reducing the available floor area to use in a tower. The way other buildings have gotten around this is by including very tall mechanical floors above the base to get more units up higher in the air, but I know there has been some recent movement (spurred by the Extell building and others) that could potentially limit this.

As others have said, some developers also have certain product types in mind or are more averse to the more "out of the box" ideas to get buildings higher. The AvalonBay project just north of here on Broadway is an example of the same zoning utilized for a simple, no gimmicks residential tower that is still beautifully executed.
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