Air rights over townhouses

See http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/subcats/zoning.shtml. Also check ACRIS for each house to find out whether they've sold their development rights to an adjoining property.

As part of your due diligence, you can engage a land use/zoning attorney to give you clarity on the issue. It might be worth an extra couple hundred dollars to get some piece of mind before spending a lot more on the purchase.

It is also a good idea to check if the townhouses are in a historic district: http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/manuals/historic_district.shtml. Generally speaking, if a townhouse in a historic district has unused development rights, LPC will not permit anything to be built on top that would be visible from the street.

Really though, a land use/zoning attorney is the best way to get comfortable about the likelihood of view-blocking development. I used to work in this space and can refer you to someone good if you’d like.

Good luck!

Dan Gotlieb
Digs Realty Group
www.digsrealtynyc.com

Thank you both. This is helpful.

Also unless you're on a river or the park... buy assuming you may lose your view.