New Builds NYC

2022

In the NYC development process, architects and developers are required to abide by zoning rules which consider issues including "building shape, affordable housing, walkability and climate change resiliency". Essentially, new buildings are only assessed in terms of their self-contained attributes.

In May, Extell Development Company gets the green light to begin work on their new site creating a 39-story (775-foot) residential building at 50 West 66th Street. The site was part of the original ABC campus on the Upper West Side and was formerly owned by Walt Disney Company. In response, Landmark West, an organization dedicated to building an inclusive community and championing a positive neighborhood quality of life for the Upper West Side of Manhattan filed a case within the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals. After the court ended deadlocked in a 2-2 tie vote over the fate of the site, Extell Development was given the green light to move forward and Landmark West was denied an appeal, as a tie vote in these cases is awarded to the developer.

This is all to say that while there were protections in place in this case, they did not protect the old ABC campus building. This was a major blow for Landmark West, but the worst was still yet to come.

2028

Extell Development finishes work on the residential building, now the tallest on the Upper West Side.

In a relatively low-density area, this building had an immediate impact on the neighborhood, its height casting significant shadows where none were before in the winter and its mirror siding reflecting more light into the street in the summer. Residents in the neighborhood were not happy to begin with, but now they were starting to no longer recognize the area they called home.

And more than this, where local residents were hurt the most was in their wallets. Despite the surrounding neighborhood's above-average median income of $154,906, the average unit price of $28.5 million for 50 W 66th Street was well beyond their reach. The units cost on average 42% more than those in the area, resulting in a ripple effect of unit cost increases throughout the neighborhood. More specifically, local rent prices increased by an average of 28%, and sell prices soared over 40%.

2029

As rents were renewed, the community continued to suffer and several long-term residents were displaced. However this wasn't unusual for New York City, and despite local residents' pleas for press coverage, news outlets did not pick up the story.

That is, until one of the residents who was priced out of the neighborhood was the aunt of Taylor Swift's childhood friend Abigail Anderson. Swift, who as of the 2016 election had become more politically active, began speaking out about the development and its results on the community. Swift fans, reknowned for both their steadfast support the singer and their overwhelming and sometimes missguided responses to her calls to action, began "trolling" the developer on its social media channels.

This caught the attention of local news stations, and by October individuals from the city and beyond were gathering to protest developments in NYC. Community Boards began to hold meetings discussing potential solutions to the growing complaints, however there simply wasn't enough funding or support behind any of the potential projects. Developers spent millions lobbying to keep things the same, and for a while they were winning.

That is until November, when one protest over the 589 Fulton Street development resulted in the death of two NYU students who were trampled during a crowds' retreat from police presence. This tragedy shook the city and as a result many looked to local government to take decisive action.

2030

Following this tragic event occurring during an election year, on January 1 Mayor Hughes was sworn in. Utilizing the results of the several community board meetings held the prior year, she immediately announced the creation of a new department dedicated to the prevention of future similar events.

DEBUG (the Department of Equitable Built Urban Growth) was created to have a direct say in what would and wouldn't be built in NYC, with each representative voted in by their community to represent their interests. With one representative for each district, this committee presented a major but nevessary hurdle for future development projects. Mayor Hughes called it the "checks and balances of NYC development".

But this was not enough. Community members need to be empowered to make the right decisions on who they elected based on their community needs, and for this to be possible they need to be informed. Not only that, but architectural designs and building metrics are often dense and difficult to understand for those outside the industry. To accomplish this in the most accessible way, Mayor Hughes also allocated $3 million to the development of computational systems and a public website displaying understandable metrics for future potential builds, including how each committee members is set to vote on them.

Set to launch by 2034, these two projects sought to inform city residents of upcoming projects and give them a more direct say into what does and doesn't move forward.

2032

In the fall, the first election of DEBUG officials took place during the August 2032 primary election. On the ballot was one representatives for each district, all on the ticket outside of party lines. Given the events in 2029, residents were looking forward to gaining a voice where they previously had none, and as a result there was record primary voter turnout.

On the other side, developers continued to protest the creation of DEBUG and NBNYC, citing that they wouldn't be able to get anything approved as a result. However, both the city residents and government alike was catalyzed to keep moving forward, with Mayor Hughes saying in a post-election speech, "if the only way to build something is to take from the local community without giving back, then it shouldn't be built anyways."

2033

In March, elected DEBUG committee officials are sworn in and begin preparing for the launch and implementation of New Builds NYC. In addition to the positive reception of the programs themselves, the creation of this new department resulted in several new job opportunities for NYC residents, which put Mayor Hughes' approval ratings at an all time high. In strict opposition, developers contined to pump millions of dollars into ad campaigns for future opposing mayoral candidates for the next year and and accompanying smear campaigns. Nationally, more and more cities were beginning to take note of what was happening in NYC, and several cities including San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago considered implementing similar programs of their own.

In July, New Builds NYC went public, although it was not yet implemented as a requirement in the development process. Supporting information sessions were held across the city throughout the Fall for both residents and developers. Many large-scale developers, including Extell Development Company, staged protests and walk-outs of these sessions. However with more control now in the hands of local residents, politicians maintained their support for the programs in order to maintain and grow their public approval. On the other hand, smaller developers who attended reported positive feedback, such as Pacinelli Development Company who stated that they felt "inspired by the idea of working with the current landscape rather than above it", and "looking forward to having access to metric tools that they otherwise wouldn't have access to".

2034

Beginning in Feburary, all future development proposals were required be submitted to New Builds NYC in order to be assessed before being voted on for approval. With the site live and fully implemented, Extell Development Company, among some other development organizations, announced that they would no longer do business in the NYC area. An unexpected result of this decision however was that smaller development companies began to have more development opportunities in NYC, now that less of the suitable locations were being scooped up by the larger companies.

Effectively forcing themselves out of the city, after Extell's departure the NBNYC and DEBUG continued to get rave reviews, with many individuals asking "why didn't this exist sooner?" All-in-all, Extell's decision did not have the intended effect, and Mayor Hughes was elected for her second term in the Fall by a landslide.

2042

After eight years of NBNYC and DEBUG, the department is ready to release our first data collection evaluating the success of these projects: In summary, over the last eight years we have seen a 16% increase in proposed restoration projects, 40% drop in luxury residence proposals, and 30% increase on proposed buildings focused on spaces for things like arts and culture, local businesses, and reasonable residences. We have also seen a 30% increase in voter turnout for primary elections, and surveys suggest that NYC is now the "Happiest City in America". This is not to say that we solved every problem the city had, or that supertall buildings and luxury residential buildings are no longer being proposed or built. But what it does suggest is that city residents, and the city itself, all benefit most when community members are both informed and given a voice.

As a result of this success, NBNYC is preparing to expand to multi-city use in Seattle, Miami, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. These new programs should all be fully implemented by 2045.

If you are interested in bringing NBNYC to your city, please reach out to us at info@nbnyc.gov. To view the raw data from 2036-2042, please visit this link.