Nearly half of the Bronx’s 12 community boards — CBs 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12 — are in support of a push by the 5 Borough Movement urging the state to lift a decades-old cap that would allow the city to expand office-to-residential housing conversions.
The most recent board to join the cause, Bronx CB12, which covers the Northwest portion of the borough, said that while they will not be impacted by any possible conversions, they support measures to increase job and housing opportunities.
The plan would require the state to lift the floor area ratio (FAR) cap currently limiting the density of construction in New York City, however.
City officials estimate new homes for as many as 40,000 New Yorkers in the next 10 years by moving the eligibility date to 1990, as current regulations and laws limit the adaptive reuse of most office buildings built in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
Across the U.S., overall apartment conversions — including those of vacant warehouses, hotels and health care buildings — jumped 25% during 2020-2021, to about 28,000 units, compared to the prior two-year period before the pandemic, according to RentCafe, a nationwide apartment listing service.
While a bulk of the office-to-residential housing plans would be reserved for Manhattan, 5 Borough Housing Movement officials told the Bronx Times that the conversion could be implemented in The Hub in the South Bronx. John Sanchez, executive director of the 5 Borough Housing Movement, says changes are needed at the state level to help streamline the commercial-to-residential turnover.
“The Bronx has clearly spoken: the FAR cap needs to lift, so we can finally develop new affordable housing,” said Sanchez. “These are the communities who have seen the worst of the housing and affordability crisis. We hope lawmakers will hear their call and finally end this relic of a policy that only makes it harder to live in New York City.”
The city Office Adaptive Reuse Study outlines 11…
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