Construction of hotels are allowed as-of-right in many commercial districts of NYC, together with a number of manufacturing districts and some residential areas with a commercial overlay. Hotel developers have to follow the rules of the zoned district, resulting in various requirements for their size, height, FAR, setback and so on.
Existing hotels can mostly be found in commercial districts in Manhattan, because of the easily granted building permission and profitability chances. But because of an overflow of hotels in the commercial districts of NYC, these zones also limited new hotel developments. As a result, the last years gave rise to the construction of hotels in manufacturing districts far outside of Manhattan.
Currently, only M1 districts allow the construction of hotels, leaving out the M2 and M3 districts. But since the M1 amendment of 2018, in order to build transient hotels, motels or other hospitality dwellings in the manufacturing M1 districts of New York City, a special permit is needed from the local community board, borough president, and finally the City Planning Commission. This special permit must also be obtained when building exceed 100 rooms. Because of the rise of hotels in the manufacturing districts, there is less land available for light manufacturing uses in these zones. Thus the city government is considering the ways for solving this issue by limiting the location of as-of-right hotel development. (Anderson Kill, 2016)
There is not only an inconsistent rise of hotels in the M1 district, also in Industrial Business Zones and in special purpose districts, special permits can be granted to new hospitality projects. Adoption of a special permit for hotels by The City Planning of in two special zoning districts like the Special Hudson Square District and the Special Tribeca Mixed Use District also attracted both commercial and residential dwellings. (Friedman & Crespo, 2015)
At the moment the hotel business is keeps on developing in NYC due to an ongoing increase in tourism. In 2014 the number of tourists reached a record number of 227.5 million, which increased the need for more hotel rooms. In 2015 NYC added more than 107,000 hotel rooms to accommodate tourists. And by the end of 2019, it is going to add 26,500 more rooms. (DiNapoli, 2017)
