Site of Interest Analysis — 341 5th Ave.
This month’s Site of Interest is an office building where I used to work in the early 2010’s.
Given the discussion by us and others surrounding the possibility of converting commercial buildings to residential, we’re taking a look at what a conversion of this building might entail. As always, sites selected for our Site of Interest analyses are purely hypothetical. We have no connection to this site (or any of the others) and are just using it as an example.
And knowing nothing about ownership, tenant/rent status, or anything else about this building, it is indeed possible that currently or in the near future this building will have a sustained drop in demand, leaving ownership with many questions to answer. If the State had passed our proposed commercial building conversion proposal, here’s what might be possible.
341 5th Ave. is an overbuilt Class C office building. Located directly across 5th Ave. from the Empire State Building, the building footprint is in a ‘C’ shape. If a conversion without altering the floorplates isn’t possible/ideal, our conversion proposal would allow for a repurposing/reallocating of the existing floor area to accommodate a better layout. A removal of the eastern wing of the ‘C’ shape would create an ‘L’ shaped building that provides ample light and air to future residential tenants. The removed floor area could be placed atop the remaining structure, without worry about tower/tower-on-a-base lot coverage requirements, setback requirements, distribution of floor area requirements, etc.
Additionally, our proposal includes a revamped 421a program to allow and incentivize buildings like this to convert to residential and include significant affordable housing.
The incentives of not having to worry about bulk regulations (or other regulatory hurdles) AND getting the 421a tax exemption puts buildings like this one in a much stronger position than they are now, all while putting the City in a stronger position as it recovers from the economic fallout of the pandemic.
Ideally, you take what could very likely end up being a vacant office building — a drain on both the private and public sectors — and convert it to a 110k square foot residential building that provides at minimum 30 units of affordable housing, directly across from the Empire State Building.
We should make win-wins like this easier to come by.
