A coalition of elected officials and groups including GVSHP defeated an attempt to remove the current State cap on the size of residential buildings in New York City in the recently-passed State budget. But the plan is not permanently dead; proponents may attempt to ram it through at the end of the legislative session in June in what’s called “the big ugly” -- the last-minute glut of controversial bills that special interests try to sneak through before the clock runs out.
The current cap still allows residential buildings that are 1,400 feet tall (taller than the Empire State Building) or even taller. If the proponents are successful in lifting the cap, the sky could literally be the limit on the size of residential buildings in New York City, and not just in Midtown and the Financial District, but residential neighborhoods like the Upper East and West Sides and even in Greenwich Village.
