The streets of New York may not be paved with gold, but city officials are now trying to determine if they can pluck hundreds of millions of dollars out of thin air – literally.
Sources said City Council officials scrambling for revenues to help plug a $5 billion budget gap next year are discussing selling “air rights” over firehouses and school buildings.
“These are desperate times,” said one source.
There are 1,100 school buildings and 228 firehouses around the city. But only the ones in Manhattan would likely generate mega-sized bids from developers, if the proposal ever gets off the ground.
Air rights are development bonuses held by landlords of low-rise structures that aren’t built as high as permitted by the city’s zoning code. They’re usually sold to adjacent property owners, allowing them to build larger structures than they otherwise would have been permitted.
Donald Trump pulled off the most controversial air-rights swap of the 1990s when he quietly amassed enough bonuses to erect his 72-story Trump World a stone’s throw from the United Nations.
Mayor Bloomberg indicated yesterday that the administration is eager to find other sources of revenue – and not necessarily tax increases – to close the deficit.
“Tax raises are not the only ways you could get money,” the mayor said on his weekly WABC radio show. “You could sell off some assets.”