Pols reveal Midtown East steering committee details

On Wednesday politicians gave the city’s developers a better idea about who will devise recommendations meant to pave the way for the rezoning of Midtown East.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council Member Daniel Garodnick, who represents the area, revealed the organizations that will contribute members to the Midtown East Steering Committee. The committee will begin meeting in September to discuss a plan that would allow for greater building density to accommodate more office and commercial space, Capital New York reported. It would present final recommendations to the City Planning Department next spring.

The steering committee will be made up of representatives of Community Boards 5 and 6, the Real Estate Board of New York, the East Midtown Multi-Board Task Force, the Municipal Art Society, the Landmarks Conservancy and Historic Districts Council, the Regional Plan Association, and the Grand Central and East Midtown partnerships.

The de Blasio administration has already put forward a plan to rezone a five-block area near Grand Central Terminal that would allow SL Green’s 1 Vanderbilt tower to move forward. The steering committee will put together recommendations on building density, historic preservation and transit and infrastructure improvements for a larger, roughly 70-block area the city wants to rezone. The full rezoning process could last through 2016.

A similar plan to rezone Midtown East failed in the waning days of the Bloomberg administration, as The Real Deal reported at the time. [Capital New York] — Tom DiChristopher