Zoning and the Special Theater District in New York

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of New York City's attempts to promote its theater industry through zoning tools, which sheds light on balancing historic preservation and sustainable development. Using the original zoning resolutions and secondary data, this paper will analyze the changing problems, solutions, costs and benefits of setting up a Special Theater (Sub)District in order to protect a socially-desirable use and to recapture the value of private development at the same time. It will conclude that landmarking the theaters to be preserved provided them with legal protection and substantial funds created by the transfers of development rights (TDRs), while controls on Floor Area Ratio (FAR), usage and contextual requirements effectively shaped the area's three dimensional form; the Special Theater Subdistrict has been highly successful.