Developer to buy 58,005 sq.ft. of air rights from Broadway’s Hirschfeld Theatre. An application to transfer additional air rights from the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, formerly the Martin Beck Theater, on West 45th Street started the City’s public review process on April 24, 2006 when the Planning Commission certified the applications of Allen Goldman of Fifth Street Holdings, LLC and SJP Residential Properties.

In 1998, the City enacted zoning rules aimed at preserving Broadway’s historic theaters. The rules created financial incentives to maintain Broadway theaters by allowing theater owners to sell air rights equal to the additional floor area that could be built if a new, as-of- right building was built on the theater’s site. The developer that purchased the theater’s air rights could then use the rights to increase the size of a proposed development above the size allowed by zoning. Under the zoning rules, the sale of a theater’s air rights could be accomplished by Planning Commission certification, requiring review by the Community Board and Borough President, but no additional hearing at Planning. (read more…)