St. Patrick’s Cathedral as of right, can transfer their air rights to buildings on or across the street. But with possible few takers, they would like to be able to sell them to developers in other locations in Manhattan. They have over 1 million square feet of air rights available and with air rights transferring for around $250 per square feet, the archdiocese has hundreds of millions of dollars that it would like to access.
Allowing the archdiocese to access these funds will help them to maintain their building. Currently, the building is undergoing a $170mm restoration.
Many people are concerned that Manhattan already has too many supertall buildings especially in Midtown and we need to reign in development of these type of buildings which cast shadows on Central Park.
What do you think? Read the WSJ article below.