Millions Of Square Feet To Be Rezoned In Brooklyn
Millions Of Square Feet To Be Rezoned In Brooklyn
Key idea: "A little more housing in every neighborhood"
Happy Belated Labor Day!
Below is an overview of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity (COYHO)'s proposed zoning changes. This summary will illustrate the proposals for low-density (LD) zoning districts. Inside LD districts, the plan aims to do four things:
Increase the allowed housing density, in general.
Increase the allowed housing density near transit hubs (subway stations, LIRR stops, Metro-North locations).
Allow commercial-only districts to build apartments above storefronts.
Legalize ADUs in 1 and 2-family homes.
The maps below will focus on the proposed density increases, showing speculators and current owners where they should expect moderate upzoning and FAR increases.
"A little more housing in every neighborhood" - slogan for the COYHO
If approved, the proposed citywide text amendment will make it possible to build a little bit more housing in every neighborhood. The idea is to adjust the zoning code to encourage all the blue-highlighted parts of NYC to become denser. Offering only slight changes but applied broadly across the city, rezonings like this stand in contrast with neighborhood plans that seek to alter the character of neighborhoods through profound changes – see the Williamsburg rezoning of 2005 that de facto turned 184 blocks of industrial property into 10,000 housing units. The City Council will reject or conditionally approve the COYHO plan before the end of the year.
Everything on the map that is colored in blue (light, dark, and navy) will get an increased the allowed density.
Brooklyn CD 01 – Greenpoint and Northern Williamsburg
There is no proposed change in zoning to Greenpoint or Williamsburg.
Brooklyn CD 02 – Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, BK Navy Yard
The most affluent parts of Brooklyn - Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Fort Greene, and Boerum Hill won’t see any changes to their current zoning and FAR levels.
A small area in Clinton Hill bounded by Park Avenue to the north, Myrtle Avenue to the south, between by Carlton and Clinton avenues will see some changes.
A small area on Hall Street and Ryerson Street between Park Avenue and Myrtle Avenue are also proposed to be upzoned.
Brooklyn CD 03 – Bedford Stuyvesant and Ocean Hill
Bedford Stuyvesant (Bedstuy) zoning density will largely remain unchanged.
Small segments of the neighborhood such as Hattie Jones Pl, Jewell McKoy Ln, Dewey Pl, Louis Pls, and Howard Ave (btw Atlantic and Herkimer). Other small areas subject to slight change include the rectangle area between Halsey Street and Bainbridge Street, between Ralph Ave and Howard Ave.
Brooklyn CD 04 – Bushwick
Bushwick will see little to no rezoning.
The only area to be rezoned is the rectangle formed between Starr Street and Dekalb Avenue and Cypress and S.t Nicholas Avenues.
This stands in stark contrast with the broad scope and ambition of the Bushwick Neighborhood Rezoning Plan of 2020, which failed to pass.
Brooklyn CD 05 – East New York and Cypress Hills
Hundreds of properties will be subject to upzoning in East New York.
Beginning east of Van Siclen Avenue and stretching to Autumn Avenue.
Much of Cypress hills beginning at Pennsylvania Avenue and going East will also be subject to a rezoning.
Brooklyn CD 06 – Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, and Park Slope
Much of Van Brunt Avenue will be rezoned together with some small stretches of Wolcott Street and Dikeman Street in Red Hook.
North of the large public housing development in Red Hook and south of the Gowanus Expressway, Columbia, Hicks, Henry, and Clinton streets will be upzoned as well.
There is no proposed change in density for Gowanus or Park Slope properties.
Brooklyn CD 07 – Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights, and Sunset Park
Almost all of Windsor Terrace will be upzoned.
Beginning at 7th avenue from 16th street down to 19th street and stretching east and south all the way down to Fort Hamilton Parkway and the southern tip of Prospect Park.
Almost none of Sunset Park will be impacted by the proposed rezone – except for a select stretch on 62nd street between 2nd and 4th avenue.
No changes to Greenwood Heights zoning.
Brooklyn CD 08 – Northern Crown Heights and Prospect Heights
Outside of a very small FAR increase on Park Place and St. John’s Pl between Bedford and Franklin Avenues, Northern Crown Heights does not have any proposed zoning changes.
Brooklyn CD 09 – Southern Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens
The City of Yes – Housing proposes the upzoning of many properties between New York Avenue and Utica Avenue, from Union Street to Crown Street.
The plan also calls for the upzoning of many properties between New York Avenue and Troy Avenue from Union Street to Empire Boulevard.
Brooklyn CD 10 – Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights
Almost all of Bay Ridge will be moderately upzoned, save for the main thoroughfares of 3rd avenue, 4th avenue, and 5th avenue.
Nearly all side streets will be upzoned, including some parts of Dyker Heights.
Brooklyn CD 11 – Bensonhurst
Nearly all Bensonhurst and Bath Beach will see an increase in FAR.
Important exceptions include the Bay Parkway corridor, which will remain unchanged. Some parts of 86th street will remain unchanged as well.
Brooklyn CD 12 – Borough Park and Kensington
Borough Park and Kensington will benefit from a widespread increase in FAR and zoning.
The triangle starting at Ditmas Ave and 39th street, down to 61st street and Bay Parkway will be rezoned.
Additionally, 57th and 58th street from 10th avenue, up to 13th avenue will also benefit from rezoning.
Brooklyn CD 13 – Coney Island and Brighton Beach
Under Adams’s plan, all of Seagate will get rezoned.
All properties in the parallelogram formed by Shell Road, Avenue Y, Coney Island Avenue, and Belt Parkway will get an FAR increase.
Many properties between on West 19th Street through to West 37th street between Neptune Avenue and Mermaid Avenue will get FAR boosts.
Brooklyn CD 14 – Flatbush and Midwood
Very large portions of Flatbush and Midwood will be subject to rezoning, if approved by the City Council at the end of FY 2024.
Primary commercial corridors like Ocean Avenue and Flatbush Avenue will remain unchanged, but many blocks between Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Avenue will be upzoned.
Similarly, much of the land between Ocean Avenue and Nostrand will be rezoned.
Brooklyn CD 15 – Sheepshead Bay
Sheepshead Bay will see a modest upgrade to its zoning almost everywhere, except for Kings Highway, and Ocean Avenue.
Most of Manhattan Beach will also be upzoned.
Brooklyn CD 16 – Brownsville
Brownsville zoning will largely remain unchanged.
The rectangle formed between Saratoga Avenue on the west and Eastern Parkway on the east between Herkimer Street and Atlantic Avenue will be rezoned.
Bristol Street and Chester Street between Linden Boulevard and Ditmars Avenue will all be rezoned as well.
Brooklyn CD 17 – East Flatbush
Much of East Flatbush will see changes to its zoning.
The area between by E 34th street and E 49th street on the east and west, and by Clarkson Avenue and Avenue D on the north and south, will be rezoned.
Much of Utica Avenue will get rezoned.
The triangle formed by Kings Highway and Linden Blvd at the North, Avenue D / Kings Highway at the southern tip, and back up to Linden Blvd at the northeast tip will also get rezoned.
Brooklyn CD 18 – Canarsie and Flatlands
Big stretches of Canarsie and Flatlands will see a zoning increase.
Importantly, many of the commercial thoroughfares like Flatbush Avenue and Rockaway Parkway are included.
Empowered to build denser housing in many parts of Brooklyn, developers will find opportunities to build in areas previously overlooked. By design, COYHO will apply only modest changes to the tax lots it affects. In isolation that doesn’t do much, but when considered at scale that will add millions of additional buildable square feet in Brooklyn. If the incentives (the FAR increases) are calibrated appropriately, that could spell tremendous change to the look and feel of Brooklyn neighborhoods over the course of a decade.
Next week, we will look at the Long Island City Spot rezoning and explain what this means for investors – considering things like 485x and office/industrial-to-resi-conversions, how this fits into Mayor Adams's goals, and where opportunities might exist for investors.
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Source: COYHO Applicability Maps