Residential FAR Cap in NYC/Supersizing NYC Buildings

Village Preservation has been a leader in opposing the effort to remove the state cap on the size of residential buildings in New York City, and to eliminate loopholes and other abuses of zoning regulations which produce taller and larger buildings than current rules were intended to allow. 

The state residential density cap, which was in effect from 1961 to 2024, allowed the world’s tallest and the nation’s largest residential buildings to be built in NYC, as well as several hundred thousand new units of housing. But the real estate industry, and some advocates and elected officials, felt this limit was still too restrictive, and lobbied hard to get all state limits on the allowable size of new residential development in NYC removed. 

We helped block the cap being lifted for four consecutive years. In 2024, Albany finally gave into overwhelming real estate lobbying and lifted the cap, albeit with multiple restrictions and limitations that respond in part to issues we raised, which will keep some guardrails in place in terms of how and where the city can allow supersized development in residential neighborhoods.