Demolition Perks For Empty Offices? City Confronts 'Towering' Dilemma

MIDTOWN, NY – The Adams Administration is exploring how to reduce the high costs associated with demolishing outdated office buildings in New York City, according to a report in Crain's.

Speaking at a Crain’s Power Breakfast on Tuesday, Andrew Kimball, CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC), said that the city is in “active conversations” with the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) about lowering the cost of tearing down the obsolete towers.

“It is extraordinarily expensive to bring down a building, but we need more of that," Kimball said, adding that any program would primarily target office buildings that aren't landmarked and which are struggling to attract tenants.

How exactly the city might go about that isn't clear. Kimball declined to elaborate further, and REBNY reportedly had no immediate comment.

Crain's named a combination of the usual suspects, including "property-tax discounts, loan subsidies, or cash grants."

About 25 percent of Manhattan’s 600 million square feet of office space is vacant and the city has thus far largely emphasized office-to-residential conversions as a potential answer to the question of what to do with this space and the buildings which contain it.

Adams is targeting a "moonshot" of building 500,000 new homes by 2032, and in August required large city agencies to identify city-owned and controlled land for potential housing development.

What do you think should be done with all of this empty space? Think outside the cubicle! Email michael.mcdowell@patch.com.