Policy

NYC will study feasibility of affordable housing on Wards Island

Aerial view of Randall’s and Wards Islands. Image via WikiCommons

December 19, 2025

NYC will study feasibility of affordable housing on Wards Island

A new City Council bill passed this week will explore the feasibility of creating affordable housing on Wards Island. Sponsored by Council Member Gale Brewer, Intro. 0571 directs the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to publish a study assessing the potential for residential development on the 255-acre island at the northern end of the East River between Manhattan and Queens. Due by July 1, 2027, the study will examine costs, land-use restrictions, and the provision of services and amenities on Wards Island.
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Adams stacks Rent Guidelines Board, jeopardizing Mamdani’s rent freeze pledge

Credit: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photo Office on Flickr

December 19, 2025

Adams stacks Rent Guidelines Board, jeopardizing Mamdani’s rent freeze pledge

By Aaron Ginsburg

With just two weeks left in office, Mayor Eric Adams has appointed four new members to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, in an effort to block Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s push for a rent freeze. With these appointments and reappointments, Adams' allies now hold a majority on the nine-member board, which sets rent increases for the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments.
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Policy

NYC’s creative industry at risk amid affordability crisis, report finds

The Rubin Museum in Chelsea closed in 2024. It now operates as a global institution with traveling exhibitions. Photo by David de Armas, courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art.

December 18, 2025

NYC’s creative industry at risk amid affordability crisis, report finds

By Aaron Ginsburg

The future of New York City's celebrated creative scene is in jeopardy, as rising living costs make sustaining a career in the industry increasingly unfeasible, a new report says. Released this month by the Center for an Urban Future (CUF), the "Creative New York" report finds that despite the creative sector’s importance to the city’s economy, the number of people working in creative fields has decreased substantially since the pandemic, following decades of growth. Employing more than 326,000 New Yorkers and attracting millions of tourists each year, the city's creative sector is an integral part of its character, but without reform, this trend could drive a large portion of the industry out of the five boroughs, according to the report.
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Policy

MTA to add spikes and paddles at most NYC subway stations to curb fare evasion

Credit: Marc A. Hermann / MTA on Flickr

December 17, 2025

MTA to add spikes and paddles at most NYC subway stations to curb fare evasion

By Aaron Ginsburg

Almost every New York City subway turnstile will soon feature protective fins, sleeves, and spikes to prevent fare evasion, the MTA said Monday. NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow told the MTA board that the agency plans to spend $7.3 million to install the technology at 129 additional stations by January, adding to the 327 of the city’s 472 subway stations that already have it. According to Crichlow, stations equipped with the technology, designed to make it harder to hop or slip around a turnstile, have seen fare evasion drop by up to 60 percent.
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Construction begins on Lionsgate Newark, NJ’s first purpose-built film production studio

Renderings courtesy of Lionsgate/Great Point Studios

December 16, 2025

Construction begins on Lionsgate Newark, NJ’s first purpose-built film production studio

By Aaron Ginsburg

Construction has officially begun on New Jersey’s first purpose-built film and television production studio in Newark. Last week, Lionsgate, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), and the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) marked the start of work on the Lionsgate Newark film studio, a major investment expected to bring hundreds of new jobs to the city’s South Ward. Located on the former Seth Boyden Housing complex, the 12-acre site represents the largest new development in the neighborhood in decades.
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New York board gives gaming licenses to 3 NYC casinos

(L) Metropolitan Park. Credit: SHoP Architects, Field Operations; (M) Bally’s Bronx casino. Credit: Bally’s Bronx; (R) Resorts World NYC. Credit: Resorts World NYC

December 16, 2025

New York board gives gaming licenses to 3 NYC casinos

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City is officially getting three casinos. The State Gaming Commission on Monday awarded licenses for Metropolitan Park across from Citi Field, Resorts World NYC at the Aqueduct Racetrack, and Bally's Bronx casino in Ferry Point Park. The decision marks the culmination of a years-long competition for the downstate licenses.
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Policy

Here are NYC’s most dangerous intersections

Looking from Avenue H, Nostrand Avenue and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Photo by Tdorante10 on Wikimedia

December 10, 2025

Here are NYC’s most dangerous intersections

By Aaron Ginsburg

There are nearly 120 intersections across New York City where five or more New Yorkers have been killed or seriously injured over the last three years, new data shows. The map, released on Tuesday by Transportation Alternatives, highlights these high-risk intersections across the five boroughs, where nearly three million pedestrians live within a half-mile of at least one. Street safety advocates are calling on the City Council to pass a bill requiring universal daylighting at every intersection—a measure introduced more than a year ago but not yet brought to a vote.
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Astoria’s 31st Street bike lane must be removed, judge rules

Credit: DOT

December 9, 2025

Astoria’s 31st Street bike lane must be removed, judge rules

By Aaron Ginsburg

A partially-installed protected bike lane along 31st Street in Astoria must be removed after a Queens judge ruled the city failed to follow proper procedures. In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Cheree Buggs ordered that the corridor be returned to its original state, despite work on the project already being underway. The judge found that the Department of Transportation (DOT) failed to show the project met legal certification requirements for notifying the FDNY, the Department of Small Business Services, and the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities. The court sided with local businesses and residents who filed the lawsuit, which argued the bike lane would compromise the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, despite city data suggesting otherwise, as Streetsblog reported.
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NYC sees 23 percent more new homes in first year of City of Yes

Credit: Daniel Lee on Unsplash

December 5, 2025

NYC sees 23 percent more new homes in first year of City of Yes

By Aaron Ginsburg

Housing production in New York City rose 23 percent in the first 10 months of 2025, since the passage of Mayor Eric Adams’ "City of Yes" housing plan, according to city data. Coinciding with the first anniversary of the plan's passage on Friday, Mayor Eric Adams and Department of City Planning Commissioner Dan Garodnick released new statistics showing that the city has permitted roughly 17,600 new homes through late October, a 22.8 percent increase from the same period in 2024. Key reforms under the plan include the legalization of accessory dwelling units, affordable housing bonuses, new zoning districts, reduced parking mandates, and more.
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Prospect Park will get Brooklyn’s first ‘Bluebelt’ to protect area from flooding

Images courtesy of NYC DEP

December 4, 2025

Prospect Park will get Brooklyn’s first ‘Bluebelt’ to protect area from flooding

By Aaron Ginsburg

To protect Prospect Park and nearby Brooklyn neighborhoods from flooding, New York City will spend $68 million on new infrastructure, including the borough’s first Bluebelt. Announced on Wednesday, the investment will fund nature-based solutions—like enhanced lakes and wetlands—to better manage extreme rainfall fueled by climate change. The project will safeguard the Prospect Park Zoo, which closed for eight months in 2023 due to flood damage, and protect surrounding neighborhoods from future flooding.
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See plan for 27-story rental tower above historic Fort Greene church

By Aaron Ginsburg

A developer is looking to build an apartment tower on top of a historic Fort Greene church. Strekte presented a proposal to the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday for a 27-story tower above the landmarked Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church. During the hearing, the commission reviewed plans to restore the facade of the church at 144 St. Felix Street and perform demolitions necessary to construct a 27-story tower above it. After extensive public feedback, including concerns from neighboring One Hanson Place condo residents about blocked views, the LPC asked the development team to return at a later date once it had reviewed the points raised during the testimony.
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NYC selects vendor for 500 secure bike storage hubs

Credit: Tranzito

December 2, 2025

NYC selects vendor for 500 secure bike storage hubs

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City has selected a vendor to install secure bike storage hubs at 500 locations across the five boroughs. The Department of Transportation on Monday announced that it chose Tranzito to create and operate a citywide network of secure bike parking structures, offering cyclists who lack in-home storage a safe place to keep their bicycles. The selection follows a 2024 request for proposals, and the city expects to award a five-year operating contract, with officials set to reveal additional designs and locations at a later date.
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Starbucks to pay $39 million in historic settlement over violation of NYC labor law

Photo by Anthony Fomin on Unsplash

December 2, 2025

Starbucks to pay $39 million in historic settlement over violation of NYC labor law

By Michelle Cohen

Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga announced on Monday a $38.9 million settlement with Starbucks over violations of New York City’s law that guarantees fair working conditions. According to city officials, the resolution was the largest worker protection settlement in the city’s history. Starbucks agreed to the settlement after an investigation by DCWP showed the company had denied thousands of workers the legal right to stable schedules as well as the right to pick up additional hours, arbitrarily cutting schedules to prioritize their own bottom line over workers’ rights.
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Policy

New bill would revive single-room occupancy apartments in NYC

An SRO in the famous Chelsea Hotel, featured in a 2018 6sqft story. Photo by James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft.

November 26, 2025

New bill would revive single-room occupancy apartments in NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

Looking for new ways to tackle the city’s housing shortage, a New York City Council member is calling for the return of single-room occupancy units (SROs). Council Member Erik Bottcher on Tuesday introduced legislation backed by the Department of Buildings that would allow the construction of SROs as small as 100 square feet for the first time in decades. The city once had as many as 100,000 SROs, but their numbers began declining in the 1950s as new laws restricted their construction and encouraged conversions, driven by stigma that linked the housing type to poverty and crime, according to the New York Times.
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Victorian Flatbush gains two new historic districts

The Ditmas Park West Historic District. Credit: Landmarks Preservation Commission

November 25, 2025

Victorian Flatbush gains two new historic districts

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City's newest historic districts are two well-preserved areas of homes in suburban Flatbush. On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Beverley Square West and Ditmas Park West Historic Districts, which together include 247 freestanding homes built between 1894 and 1910, showcasing early 20th-century suburban architecture in the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles, or a mixture of the two. The most recent iteration of the districts includes minor boundary adjustments that exclude homes that do not share the same historic integrity as the rest of the district.
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2,500 new homes proposed for New York Wheel site on Staten Island

All renderings courtesy of FXCollaborative

November 24, 2025

2,500 new homes proposed for New York Wheel site on Staten Island

By Aaron Ginsburg

Up to 2,500 new homes could come to Staten Island’s North Shore under a new city plan to finally reimagine the long-vacant New York Wheel site. Last week, the city's Economic Development Corporation revealed a plan to transform two sites in St. George, the Empire Outlets retail complex and the former site of a planned Ferris Wheel, into a mixed-use waterfront neighborhood with thousands of apartments, open space, retail, and community amenities. The plan would mark the long-awaited next chapter for the property, once slated to host the world’s tallest Ferris wheel before the project was scrapped in 2018.
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Plan for 2,000+ homes at vacant Creedmoor campus in Queens approved

Creedmoor campus. Photo by Jim.henderson via WikiCommons

November 20, 2025

Plan for 2,000+ homes at vacant Creedmoor campus in Queens approved

By Aaron Ginsburg

A plan to bring more than 2,000 new homes to the underutilized Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus in eastern Queens won approval this week. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced that the Public Authorities Control Board approved the general project plan for the Creedmoor Mixed-Use Project, clearing the way to turn nearly 50 acres of vacant state land into a mixed-use community with housing, open space, retail, childcare, and senior services. The project includes a total of 2,022 units, with more than 950 affordable rentals and over 1,000 affordable and market-rate homes for ownership.
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Eliot Spitzer’s planned Fifth Avenue condo tower gets height boost

All renderings courtesy of Spitzer Enterprises

November 19, 2025

Eliot Spitzer’s planned Fifth Avenue condo tower gets height boost

By Aaron Ginsburg

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed Upper East Side condo project, which would replace a 1970s-era rental building with 26 luxury residences, just got a slight height boost. On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved Spitzer's proposal to raise his planned development at 985 Fifth Avenue from 19 to 20 stories using City of Yes zoning reforms, replacing a 25-story rental building approved for demolition in 2023. Other approved changes include a textured limestone facade, a rear yard extension, and the removal of an adjacent public plaza.
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NYC unveils designs for revamped sidewalk sheds

Renderings courtesy of PAU

November 19, 2025

NYC unveils designs for revamped sidewalk sheds

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City officials are reimagining sidewalk sheds and street scaffolding, transforming these necessary but unsightly structures into safer, lighter, and more flexible structures. On Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled six innovative designs by Arup and Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) that enhance circulation, improve aesthetics, and let in more natural light, all while continuing to protect New Yorkers. The new sheds, which eliminate the X-shaped bars and other confining elements of current models, could be installed on city sidewalks as early as next year.
See the designs, ahead

Policy

Council kills bill banning horse-drawn carriages in NYC

Credit: Igor Wang on Unsplash

November 17, 2025

Council kills bill banning horse-drawn carriages in NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

A City Council bill to phase out New York City’s horse-drawn carriage industry has stalled after a committee voted against advancing it to a full Council vote. On Friday, the Council’s Committee on Health voted 1–4, with two abstentions, to block Ryder’s Law, sponsored by Council Member Robert Holden. The bill would end the city’s carriage horse industry by 2026 and help drivers transition to other jobs. Opponents, siding with the Transport Workers Union International (TWU), which represents carriage drivers, called the bill “ill-conceived and silly.”
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PATH to get major service boost, but fare will reach $4 by 2029

Credit: LunchboxLarry on Flickr

November 14, 2025

PATH to get major service boost, but fare will reach $4 by 2029

By Aaron Ginsburg

For the first time in 25 years, all PATH lines will operate seven days a week, one of the largest service increases in its history. To help pay for the system improvements, fares are expected to rise to $4 by 2029. On Thursday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey released its proposed $45 billion 2026–2035 Capital Plan, which outlines major service upgrades between Manhattan and New Jersey. Improvements include eliminating transfers between Hoboken and the World Trade Center by mid-2026 and increasing weekend service. To fund the plan, the agency is proposing a 33 percent fare increase from the current $3 base fare, rising in 25-cent increments starting next summer and reaching $4 in 2029.
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Turning cubicles to condos: The pros and cons of office-to-residential conversions in NYC

SoMA at 25 Water Street is the largest office-to-residential conversion in the U.S. to date. Rendering courtesy of Streetsense

November 13, 2025

Turning cubicles to condos: The pros and cons of office-to-residential conversions in NYC

By Dana Schulz

Across New York City’s five boroughs, office space occupies 730 million square feet (600 million of which is in Manhattan), according to CoStar data obtained by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. This is the most of any North American city; runner-up Los Angeles has only 432 million square feet of office space. So, it’s no wonder that the conversation around post-Covid commercial real estate vacancies is such a hot-button issue, especially considering that Manhattan’s residential vacancy rate is just 1.2 percent.
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14,700 homes planned for Long Island City after Council approves largest rezoning in 25 years

Credit: Ruoyu Li on Unsplash

November 13, 2025

14,700 homes planned for Long Island City after Council approves largest rezoning in 25 years

By Aaron Ginsburg

The New York City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the city’s largest neighborhood rezoning in 25 years. The OneLIC Neighborhood Plan rezones 54 blocks of a largely industrial area of Long Island City to allow for 14,700 new homes, including 4,350 permanently affordable units. The plan will create a continuous public waterfront from Gantry Plaza State Park to Queensbridge Park and includes $2 billion in city commitments, unlocking more than 3.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space and significant public-realm upgrades.
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Adams to designate Elizabeth Street Garden as official NYC park to block housing project

Photo by James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft.

November 13, 2025

Adams to designate Elizabeth Street Garden as official NYC park to block housing project

By Devin Gannon

To prevent Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani from turning Nolita's Elizabeth Street Garden into senior housing as first intended over a decade ago, Mayor Eric Adams is designating the one-acre green space as official city parkland. As first reported by Gothamist, Adams is transferring ownership of the lot to the Parks Department, which would require any development on the site to be approved by the state legislature. The move comes less than two months before Mamdani, who said he would build affordable housing at the site, takes office.
details here

Policy

New legislation would pave the way for more affordable artist housing in NYC

Credit: Jeffrey Blum on Unsplash

November 12, 2025

New legislation would pave the way for more affordable artist housing in NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

Legislation introduced this week would pave the way for more affordable artist housing in New York City. Announced on Wednesday by Manhattan Council Members Keith Powers and Erik Bottcher, the legislation would amend the city’s administrative code to clarify that housing programs offering preference to artists do not violate human rights laws prohibiting discrimination based on occupation. The legislation aims to create more housing opportunities for artists, many of whom earn well below the city’s average rent thresholds, in the nation's cultural capital, as first reported by Gothamist.
details here

Policy

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