UPTOWNflavor

More on the Rezoning of 125th Street

Yesterday’s post about the rezoning of 125th Street created quite a buzz over here on UPTOWNflavor. The Columbia Spectator reported on a community meeting surrounding the proposals. Apparently the Columbia expansion plan is NOT part of the rezoning plan…or so they say. Here are highlights from the Columbia article:

• The rezoning area extends from Broadway to Second Avenue and from 124th to 126th streets.
• Banks, hotels, offices, and residential spaces would be prohibited from occupying the majority of ground level space of any new development on 125th Street. The space would be limited to retail stores and certain arts and entertainment venues ranging from bowling alleys to bookstores and museums.
• Over the last decade, 125th Street has evolved from a street lined with start-up businesses to one dotted with commercial retail chains like H&M and Old Navy. The city believes that this rather abrupt change has rendered the existing zoning, which allows for low- to- medium-density residential and commercial development, intermingled with low-density manufacturing and high-density commercial areas, outdated.
• Under the plan, the smaller sub-section from Frederick Douglass Boulevard to midway between Malcolm X Boulevard and Fifth Avenue would be designated as an “Arts and Entertainment Core Sub-district.” The regulations for this sub-district require new developments with 60,000 square feet of floor area or more to have five percent of their space reserved for qualifying arts and entertainment uses.
• The new zoning plan also offers an affordable housing incentive to developers in the area-those who make at least 20 percent of their units affordable are permitted to build taller buildings by increasing the floor-area ratio by up to 33 percent.
• Not included in the rezoning plans is land west of Broadway, which is part of Columbia’s proposed Manhattanville expansion zone.