The Daily Dirt: City kickstarts study to boost industrial space

The city is studying how to promote industrial businesses in the city. 

This week various agencies announced that they are getting started on the NYC Industrial Plan, as required by a City Council bill approved last year.

That measure requires the Department of City Planning, the Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Small Business Services to come up with a plan that identifies “Primary Industrial Areas” to be classified “for predominantly industrial use.”

Presumably, some of these areas would overlap with the Industrial Business Zones, which were established nearly 20 years ago. City Planning estimates that only 25 percent of the city’s 590,000 industrial jobs are located in these zones (though the agency includes a wide range of jobs as industrial).

The law requires the city to complete the plan by the end of 2025 and provide a progress report every two years. The plan itself must be updated every eight years.

At the same time, officials are not looking to encourage development of all types of industrial space. One they frown on is warehouses to deliver internet orders. The administration plans to pursue a text amendment that would require special permits for all new last-mile facilities.

The push to preserve industrial and manufacturing space has clashed with efforts to rezone sites for residential and even office use, even as manufacturing jobs have declined in the city (from about 1 million decades ago to 60,000).

The industrial plan is expected to consider “new forms of industrial use,” including “high-tech prototyping, film, green energy, and artisanal manufacturing,” according to City Planning’s website.

What we’re thinking about: Will Brookfield sell the retail portion of 685 Fifth Avenue? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com. 

A thing we’ve learned: In terms of NJ Transit train cancellations, this was the second worst summer seen since Gov. Phil Murphy took office in 2018, according to the New Jersey Monitor. Between June 1 and Aug. 31, the agency reported 1,820 cancellations. NJ Transit blamed Amtrak for 527 of them.

Elsewhere in New York…

— Mayor Eric Adams praised the response of NYPD officers in a shooting that left four people, including one police officer, injured, Gothamist reports. “I think that those officers should be commended for how they really showed a great level of restraint,” Adams said. “It’s just unfortunate that innocent people were shot because of that. But they were shot because [of] a dangerous repeated offender on our subway system.” The suspect had a knife; all the shots were fired by the police.

— The city is hosting “National Urban Rat Summit” this week, Bloomberg reports. Municipal rodent control and pest researchers will speak at the event.  

— Regional manager of Queens Students in Temporary Housing Linda Wilson allegedly took her family members on trips intended for homeless students, CBS News reports. The destinations included Disney World, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., according to Department of Education officials. 

Closing Time

Residential: The priciest residential sale Tuesday was $5.2 million for a condo unit at 245 West 99th Street. The sale of the 2,500 square-foot apartment at the Upper West Side tower was apparently off-market.

Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $12.6 million for a warehouse at 891/899 East 135th Street. The building, which is home to a waste management company, is 17,800 square feet and last sold in 2021 for $4 million, per property records.

New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $17.5 million for a penthouse condo at 936 Fifth Avenue. The Lenox Hill unit is 3,800 square feet. Brown Harris Stevens’ Lisa Simonsen and Charles McDonald have the listing.  — Joseph Jungermann