Computing Floor Area Ratio -- But How Many Square Feet?

I live on an R6 landmarked block and the broker for next door is telling folks they can build 600 sq ft. but I think that’s too much. The lot is 2000 sq ft and the building is 20 x 45. It’s a cellar, garden-level basement and three floors — that’s four floors, right? Is there a way a crafty architect can manipulate the floor numbers to maximize FAR? What does the FAR — I compute 1.8 — mean in terms of how much can be added? I can’t see how to determine that on the DOB website.

homely

in General Discussion 6 years and 8 months ago

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Smokychimp | 6 years and 7 months ago

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Yes Homely, a crafty architect can “manipulate” (in other words, use valid exemptions for…) the declared amount of square footage that’s counted toward the F.A.R. This is actually a very routine activity in high density construction, where the number of zoning drawing sheets devoted to exemptions might be larger than the construction set. The F.A.R. number listed in the Zoning Resolution is just a first step.

You can probably rely on 5% to 10% of extra square footage in a building from the published F.A.R. without it being unusual. So for example if you’re in an R6 zone as you say (which is F.A.R. 2.2 on a narrow street), your neighbor might have 800 square feet to 1200 extra square feet to build. That’s an extra two bedroom apartment, what would that fetch in your neighborhood? It’s probably valuable enough that you would want to squeeze every single square inch out of your allowances.

jimhillra | 6 years and 8 months ago

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Homely, your math is correct. Your numbers work out to 1.8. So 0.2 x 2000 = 400 sf left.

There are ways to manipulate FAR to deduct some floor areas, and you might get another 100 – 200 sf depending upon the conditions. That could get you close to the 600 sf.

As for whether or not it’s worth it, that’s a personal question for the buyer. Assuming you have a 60% lot coverage limitation, which is pretty typical in brownstone areas, you could add 15 feet onto the back of two floors, which could be a significant improvement. We’ve certainly had clients add less and be very happy with the results.

resident2 | 6 years and 8 months ago

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Brokers that are selling a property based on 600 extra square feet of “potential” is an idiot and any buyer based on that is a fool.
Opening up that whole can of worms with DOB & the Real Estate tax reassessment for 600 sq feet is not worth it unless a buyer can get it at a steal.