The People's Money (2023-2024)
Decide how to spend part of the city budget!
- In which borough should your idea take place?
- Manhattan
- Do you have a specific neighborhood(s) in mind?
- All
- Which audience(s) does your idea help? Select as many as apply.
- Describe the challenge you want to address:
- There is more than 96 million square feet of empty office space in NYC with empty office spaces soaring 70% since 2019. One owner converting an entire building can be prohibitive and keep many owners from attempting this. I am proposing that the Office Conversion Accelerator team also set up a program to allow individuals to buy floors or sections of empty office and commercial space and convert it themselves.
- Describe your idea and approach to address the challenge:
- I propose that the Office Conversion Accelerator Team expand their work beyond just working with building owners that could create 50 or more units. They should create a portal to connect building owners with empty space with individuals who would be interested in buying a floor and converting it themselves. The Office Conversion Accelerator Team could offer workshops to help the individual buyers with the conversion process and assist with zoning changes needed to classify said buildings as mixed use or residential. Every night I look outside my window in a residential area where two smaller office buildings have sat empty for more than 3 years. In the doorway of these completely empty buildings, homeless people sleep in the cold. This is unacceptable as we certainly have enough empty space in this city to create more housing. I urge the Office Conversion Accelerator team to consider this proposal as one more tool in their arsenal to help create more housing allowing NYC to remain the growing, vibrant city we all love.
- Write the zipcode that best represents your New York City community:
- 10010
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