Landmark and special district transfers of development rights

Landmark transfers under ZR 75-42

The Landmarks Preservation Commission describes the change plainly: in late 2024 the Zoning Resolution was amended as part of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity to add Section 75-42, landmarks that once could transfer only to directly adjacent lots can now reach a wider area, and transfers are approved by Chair certification instead of going through ULURP (LPC fact sheet, June 2026). The text itself, last amended December 5, 2024, sets the rules:

• ■Who can send. A “granting lot” is a zoning lot containing a structure designated as a landmark by the LPC, excluding cemeteries, statues, monuments and bridges (ZR 75-421). The LPC adds that individual landmarks inside historic districts are now eligible.
• ■Where it can go. The “surrounding area”: every zoning lot on the landmark's block and every zoning lot across a street or street intersection from that block. In commercial districts with a commercial FAR of 15.0 or more it also includes lots that would form a series extending to the landmark but for the intervening streets.
• ■How much can leave. The maximum floor area under the district regulations, less the floor area of all existing buildings on the granting lot and anything transferred before. Bonus floor area, as of right or discretionary, does not count (ZR 75-422).
• ■How much can arrive. No more than 20 percent above the receiving lot's maximum floor area; 30 percent in commercial or manufacturing districts where the non-residential FAR is 15.0 or more. Beyond 30 percent in those districts, only by special permit under ZR 74-79.
• ■What the landmark owes. A program for the continuing maintenance of the landmark and a report on it from the LPC. The LPC says applications require a public hearing, the landmark must be in sound condition or have a plan to get there, and in most cases 10 percent of the value of the transfer goes into a maintenance fund.
• ■Permanence. Each transfer irrevocably reduces what the granting lot can build, even if the designation is later removed or the landmark is destroyed.

Bulk relief: ZR 75-24 and 74-79

Extra floor area is only useful if it fits. ZR 75-24 lets the City Planning Commission authorize bulk modifications other than FAR in conjunction with a certified landmark transfer. Where a height limit applies, the modification cannot raise the maximum height by more than 25 percent, and the Commission must find the change will not unduly obstruct light and air, relates harmoniously to the surrounding area and is the least needed to accommodate the transferred floor area.

ZR 74-79 is now the special permit for the larger cases: a transfer exceeding the receiving lot's maximum floor area by more than 30 percent in high-density commercial and manufacturing districts, or bulk modifications other than FAR made with a transfer. The special permit carries the same light-and-air and harmonious-scale findings.

East Midtown Subdistrict

In East Midtown, landmarks inside the subdistrict can transfer to “qualifying sites” by Chair certification under ZR 81-642. The table in ZR 81-64 sets a basic maximum FAR of 12 or 15 depending on the underlying district, a maximum amount of landmark floor area by subarea (Row D), a maximum as-of-right FAR on qualifying sites of 18 to 27 (Row E) and a maximum total of 21 to 30 (Row H).

• ■Sites in the Grand Central or Other Transit Improvement Zone subareas must first obtain the transit improvement certification in ZR 81-641.
• ■The transferable amount is the basic maximum floor area less what is built on the landmark lot and anything transferred before, excluding earlier bonuses for subway improvements, plazas or district improvements.
• ■Before a building permit, the applicant pays into the Public Realm Improvement Fund the greater of 20 percent of the sale price or 20 percent of the ZR 81-613 Development Rights Valuation ($307.45 per square foot as of August 9, 2017) per transferred foot.

Theater Subdistrict

In the Special Midtown District's Theater Subdistrict, a listed theater (named in ZR 81-742) is a granting site, and receiving sites lie within the subdistrict outside the 42nd Street Development Project Area. Under ZR 81-744:

• ■By certification, a granting site sends its basic maximum FAR as if undeveloped, less existing floor area and anything used or transferred before; the receiving site may exceed its basic maximum FAR by no more than 20 percent.
• ■The ZR 81-743 assurances for continued legitimate theater use must be met.
• ■A contribution to the Theater Subdistrict Fund is due per transferred square foot: $10 in the text, adjusted by rule to $24.65 on July 15, 2022.
• ■An authorization allows additional transfers to receiving sites in the Eighth Avenue Corridor. Granting sites outside the subdistrict cannot send to the Special Clinton District portion of a receiving site.

West Chelsea: the High Line Transfer Corridor

ZR 98-31 states the purpose: transfer development rights from properties under and immediately west of the High Line so light and air reach it and views from it are kept. Under ZR 98-33 a granting site in the corridor can send floor area to a receiving site in any subarea of the Special West Chelsea District other than F, H and J.

• ■This is a notification, not a certification: both owners notify the Department of City Planning in writing with zoning calculations and the transfer instrument, and record notices of restrictions; DCP's acknowledgement is a precondition to DOB issuing the receiving site's permit.
• ■The granting site's transferable amount is capped by the FAR its location allowed (as of June 10, 2015 outside a subarea, or the subarea's basic maximum), less floor area that stays.
• ■The receiving site cannot exceed the FAR the ZR 98-22 table allows through transfer; transferred floor area can be used for any use the receiving site permits.
• ■A stairway access easement to the High Line and a recorded declaration of restrictions are conditions of the transfer.

Hudson Yards

Lots in the Phase 2 Hudson Boulevard and Park may not be developed, but under ZR 93-32 their floor area can move by Chair certification to receiving sites in Subareas A2 through A5 of the Large-Scale Plan Subdistrict A or Subareas D1 and D2 of Hell's Kitchen Subdistrict D. The text lists the granting FARs: 7.5 in C2-8, 6.02 in C6-2, 10.0 in C6-4 and 5.0 in M1-5, less floor area that stays. Separately, ZR 93-31 lets most sites in the district exceed their basic FAR by certification with a contribution to the Hudson Yards District Improvement Fund. That is a purchase from the city, not a transfer between owners.