The Daily Dirt: City Council to approve Bronx rezoning with parking mandates

The City Council is poised to approve the first major neighborhood rezoning of the Adams administration. 

The body is expected to vote Thursday on the rezoning of 46 blocks around four new Metro-North stations planned for Co-op City, Hunts Point, Morris Park and Parkchester/Van Nest.

The rezoning is sending a mixed message. On one hand, it is aimed at encouraging thousands of new housing units near transit. That idea is definitely in line with the mayor’s broader housing plans. Requiring developers to build parking spots with this new housing, however, is not.

Including parking mandates was critical to securing support from local City Council member Kristy Marmorato.

“We must acknowledge, for some, private vehicles remain a necessity due to work obligations, family responsibilities and accessibility needs,” she said during a hearing last month. “Without adequate parking provisions, we risk placing an undue burden on these individuals forcing them to choose between mobility and livelihoods.”

“We are not there yet as a community to remove such mandates,” she said.

Ready or not, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity text amendment asks communities citywide to let go of these requirements. Urban planners say parking mandates reduce housing production and increase traffic congestion.

The original rezoning proposal would have freed new housing developments from parking requirements. Even with that provision, officials estimated that the rezoning would net up to 5,973 new parking spots.

This month the City Council added parking requirements to the rezoning, capped heights of buildings and restricted density in part of the rezoning area. The result of the density and height changes, according to a technical memo outlining the modifications, will be 582 fewer housing units, bringing housing projections for the rezoning from 7,500 units over the next decade to just under 7,000.

The administration admits that including parking requirements in the Bronx rezoning conflicts with its broader housing efforts. In its June report on the rezoning application, the City Planning Commission acknowledged that requiring parking near the new train stations “would work at cross purposes with the vision for lively, mixed-used, transit-oriented districts around the future stations developed as part of this plan, as well as citywide policy promoted by the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity text amendment.”

StreetsBlog NYC raised doubts that, given the parking mandates, the rezoning will end up creating 7,000 units, given the high cost of building garages. Open Plans estimates that for every 1.2 parking spaces constructed, one unit of housing is lost. According to the group, a single parking spot can cost a developer as much as $150,000.

What we’re thinking about: If RXR Realty and SL Green Realty decide to convert 5 Times Square, how much of the office building will go residential? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.

A thing we’ve learned: A species of ant nicknamed the “ManhattAnt,” is becoming so prevalent in New York that it is competing with the pavement ant to become the city’s most common ant, WNYC reports.

Elsewhere in New York…

— The NYPD is adding 100 officers to its Central Park patrol after an uptick in robberies, Gothamist reports. So far this year, 30 robberies have been reported in the park, up from 10 through this point last year.

— Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman on Wednesday signed a bill into law that prohibits people from wearing face coverings in public, NBC News reports. The law is first of its kind, and has some exemptions for religious and health reasons.

— Brooklyn City Council member Justin Brannan announced on Wednesday that he plans to run for comptroller in 2025, City & State reports. 

Closing Time

Residential: The priciest residential sale Wednesday was $7.8 million for a 3,448-square-foot condominium at 301 East 80th Street in Yorkville.

Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $18.8 million for a 43,809-square-foot development property at 945 Bergen Street in Crown Heights. The Real Deal reported the pending purchase, by Simon Dushinsky’s Rabsky Group, in March. 

New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $21.5 million for a 3,466-square-foot condominium at 157 West 57th Street, Unit 56C, on Billionaires’ Row. Jorge Lopez of Compass has the listing.

— Matthew Elo