Attention NYC building owners (commercial and residential) and apartment owners

Attention NYC building owners (commercial and residential) and apartment owners: Did you know that, if your building is pre-1962, you can construct an entire new floor on your building’s roof (or construct new rooms on your setback roof terraces) — even if your residential or commercial building already exceeds current maximum legal zoning footage (FAR)? According to a few secret (unpublished)... [more]

Attention NYC building owners (commercial and residential) and apartment owners: Did you know that, if your building is pre-1962, you can construct an entire new floor on your building’s roof (or construct new rooms on your setback roof terraces) — even if your residential or commercial building already exceeds current maximum legal zoning footage (FAR)? According to a few secret (unpublished) rulings which DOB has very quietly given under a little known zoning loophole, you can do this — “as of right” — if your rooftop or terrace has a pre-1962 surrounding parapet (wall) more than 3 ft. 8 in. high, going more than 50% around the rooftop or roof terrace. This may sound as wrong to you as it does to me (and DOB’s “interpretation” ought to be overruled by BSA) — but that is what DOB’s highest technical “expert” (First Deputy Commissioner Fatma Amer) says is the rule, and what she signs onto when privately approached. (As an attorney, I got my hands on one of those private loophole grants signed by her — a “Preconsideration” approval — and made DOB’s Legal Department give me a formal letter stating this “interpretation” with absolute clarity.) The loophole is based on the definition of “Floor Area” in ZR Definitions Section 12-10(f). DOB says that since those roof areas in pre-1962 (“grandfathered”) buildings are already counted as “Floor Area” under that definition, then turning them into fully enclosed dwelling and office space doesn’t really add to the “Floor Area” footage of the building. (That’s DOB logic — but given recent news about DOB (Mafia inspectors, uninspected cranes falling) — would anything from DOB now surprise you?) So call your architect, engineer or zoning lawyer now; measure those parapets (shave the roof down a bit if the parapet is a little less than 3 ft. 8 in.), and get your applications in to DOB real fast to add those floors and rooms — before DOB changes its mind, or BSA reverses DOB. Pass this along now to all your friends in the real estate industry, or who have apartments with rooftop or roof terrace rights. Those friends who can use this secret loophole — especially building owners — will owe you bigtime. [less]