UNION SQUARE — Manhattan residents will have a chance to sound off on the proposed Greater East Midtown Rezoning proposal, which if passed would rezone a chunk of Midtown around Grand Central Terminal in an effort to encourage new development.
Community Board 5 on Monday evening will host a public hearing for comment on the proposal, which is currently in the community board review stage of the city’s Uniform Land-Use Review Procedure, or ULURP.
The hearing, which is open to the public, will be held at 6 p.m. at the SGI-USA New York Culture Center at 7 E. 15th St. on the fifth floor.
►See Also: Developers Could Sponsor These Subway Projects Under Midtown Rezoning
►See Also: East Midtown Rezoning Plan: What You Need to Know
A draft of the plan, released in December, describes the rezoning as an effort to encourage developers to build new office space in a 78-block area of Midtown bound roughly by 57th Street to the north, 39th Street to the south, Third Avenue to the east, and Madison Avenue to the west.
Under the plan, developers would sponsor projects in exchange for height and density bonuses on new construction sites in the neighborhood. The draft lists 24 possible projects that would include expanded accessibility for riders with disabilities, widened staircases and platforms at six subway stations in Midtown, as well as new street entrances, according to documents released in December.
Transit hubs that the MTA and DCP have identified as being potential areas for improvement include:
►Lexington Avenue/53rd Street and 51st Street (E,M,6)
►Lexington Avenue/59th Street (N,Q,R,4,5,6)
►Fifth Avenue/53rd Street (E,M)
►Rockefeller Center/47th-50th Street (B,D,F,M)
►Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue (B,D,F,M,7)
►Grand Central (4,5,6,7,S)
In addition to the public transit improvements, the updated rezoning proposal also lays out how developers, in buying air rights from adjacent landmark sites, would contribute to public improvements.
For each purchase of air rights in the rezoned area, 20 percent of the price will go into a public improvement fund, which will be used to finance aboveground projects such as public plazas and other amenities for public use, according to the proposal.
