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See Which Areas of NYC Are Ripe for More Development

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The trading of air rights, or the unused or excess development rights of a given site, has hit an all-time high in the post-recession building boom. The Times suggests that's because they're what can make the difference between a marginal and a profitable project. They're also what made developments like 432 Park, One57, Central Park Tower, and the rest of those heavens-grazing buildings possible. Now that projects of that size are popping up all over the city—brace, Brooklyn—it's hard not to wonder when the madness will stop. Sorry, the answer for that is not here, but PropertyShark has created an interactive map that shows the availability of remaining air rights throughout the city. Unsurprisingly, the Village is bone-dry in relation to its zoning—overdeveloped, even. Unused air rights in Manhattan do still exist, believe it or not, and can be found around the island's edges near places where major projects are going up, like Hudson Yards and Extell's Lower East Side tower, One Manhattan Square.


↑ Roosevelt Island supertall, anyone?

To peruse the map, head this way.

UPDATE: The Municipal Art Society has reached out to share their interactive development rights maps. Unlike PropertyShark's, as commenter Matthew notes, MAS's maps "normalize" for lot area and show the available FAR. There's a screenshot of MAS's map below, which can be viewed in full here.


· Zoom In: Which NYC Areas Have Unused Development Rights? [PropertyShark]
· Map [official]
· The Great Air Race [NYT]
· Accidental Skyline Development Rights Maps [MAS]
· All Air Rights coverage [Curbed]