Midtown East Upzoning Plan Raises Debate Over Skyscraper District

NEW YORK CITY-As hungry developers move to the Far West Side and Downtown to construct glassy, state-of-the-art class A towers, soon, they may be coming back to build Manhattan’s core business district: the Grand Central submarket. After the New York City Department of Planning unveiled plans to rezone parts of Madison and Lexington Avenues to allow taller skyscrapers in Midtown East last week, commercial real estate sources tell GlobeSt.com that the proposal will allow for developers to build bigger—and better—buildings in close proximity to existing corporations, institutions and landmarks. But questions about whether the city’s aging infrastructure and transportation network can support it remain to be seen.

Under the city’s proposal, properties near Grand Central between Madison and Lexington Avenues would be entitled to build as tall as 900 feet, and properties on the west side of Madison and east side of Lexington between East 39^th and 49^th streets would be allowed to be as high as 700 feet, a Bloomberg report shows. The rezoning – which is being pushed by the Bloomberg administration to keep Manhattan competitive on a global scale against world economic powers like Tokyo, London and China – would encourage replacement of old office building stock, especially near the station, which is surrounded by the likes of art deco and prewar staples like the Chrysler Building and 230 Park Ave.