What is the maximum residential FAR in C6-5.5?

10, as of right — narrow street, per NYC Zoning Resolution § 81-021 (C6-5.5 underlying district = C6-5); § 81-211 (basic max FAR 12.0, non-residential/mixed); § 81-241 (residential: underlying regs apply); § 33-122; § 33-123; § 33-25; § 33-26; § 33-43; § 33-432; § 33-451; § 34-112. Site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify it — run a full lookup for a specific lot.

What is the maximum commercial FAR in C6-5.5?

12, as of right — narrow street, per NYC Zoning Resolution § 81-021 (C6-5.5 underlying district = C6-5); § 81-211 (basic max FAR 12.0, non-residential/mixed); § 81-241 (residential: underlying regs apply); § 33-122; § 33-123; § 33-25; § 33-26; § 33-43; § 33-432; § 33-451; § 34-112. Site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify it — run a full lookup for a specific lot.

Is C6-5.5 a contextual district?

No. C6-5.5 is not a contextual district; its building envelope is governed by the district's general height and setback rules rather than a prescribed contextual envelope.

What kind of land use dominates this designation?

Commercial and office use, at 70% of its roughly 51 tax lots, with mixed residential-and-commercial use adding another 22%.

How much housing is recorded on lots zoned this way?

Not much: only 22% of lots are recorded as residential, with 1,482 units counted across them.

How tall is the recorded building stock?

Mid-rise: a median of 9 stories, with 61% of buildings rising above 6 floors.

How old are the buildings here?

Mostly prewar, at 76%, with a median construction year of 1920; the 1945-to-1975 boom and construction since 2000 each contributed just 6% of the stock.

C6-5.5 Zoning District — New York City

C6-5.5 is a high-density Restricted Central Commercial District (NYC Zoning Resolution § 11-122) in New York City.

C6-5.5 is a high-density Restricted Central Commercial District (NYC Zoning Resolution § 11-122) in New York City. It allows commercial uses, and generally also housing under the rules of a residential-equivalent district. Under the as of right — narrow street rules, the maximum residential FAR is 10 and the maximum commercial FAR is 12. 51 tax lots citywide carry C6-5.5 as their primary zoning designation.

Across roughly 51 tax lots, this designation is recorded as overwhelmingly commercial: 70% of lots fall under commercial-and-office land use, and only 22% are recorded as residential, holding 1,482 units on the books. What stands is mid-rise — a median height of 9 stories with 61% of buildings rising above 6 floors — on a stock that is 76% prewar with a median construction year of 1920.

What actually stands in this district

The land-use records for this designation are lopsided: 70% of its roughly 51 tax lots are logged under commercial-and-office use, and another 22% under mixed residential-and-commercial use. Recorded residential use tells a matching story — only 22% of lots are residential outright, with 1,482 units counted across them. This is a designation where the commercial land-use label dominates and the housing that exists is a minority holding rather than the bulk of the recorded stock.

Office buildings account for a recorded 20% of the building-class mix, with other recorded classes not further coded on this page making up the larger remainder. What stands rises to a median of 9 stories, with 61% of the recorded stock above 6 floors — taller, on average, than many of the lower-rise designations in this set, and consistent with the commercial land-use pattern recorded above.

Age skews prewar: 76% of recorded buildings predate 1940, and the median construction year is 1920. The 1945-to-1975 boom added 6% of the stock, and construction since 2000 accounts for another 6% — meaning the postwar decades and the most recent quarter-century have contributed about equally little to what stands today, and the great majority of the record still traces to the earlier era.

On development capacity, 63% of lots record floor area below their allowance, with a median gap of 3. Lots run to a median of 5,754 square feet, with a 90th percentile of 17,180. None of these lots, 0%, fall inside the mapped federal flood zone on the current map, a fact about where the map's boundary sits rather than about flood history. The rules tables above carry the specific allowances and citations behind that recorded gap, keyed to each individual parcel.

Read together, the records describe a designation where commercial and office space has long outweighed housing, where the building stock has aged with relatively little turnover since the prewar era, and where a majority of lots still carry some recorded floor area below their allowance. None of that describes what a given lot could become — only what the tax rolls and building records show standing on it today, parcel by parcel, with the rules tables above carrying the governing figures and citations. Read as a whole, the file shows an old, thinly residential stock with a recorded but unconcentrated gap between what stands and what the current allowance would support on any one parcel.

Bulk rules for C6-5.5

Context	Residential FAR	Commercial FAR	Community facility FAR	Citation
As of right — narrow streetC6-5.5 — Special Midtown District designation (58 MapPLUTO lots; spdist1 = MiD). § 81-021 (Last Amended 10/7/2021, raw live HTML 2026-06-12) maps Midtown district C6-5.5 → underlying C6-5, whose HTML-verified rows are cloned at build time. Express FAR modification: § 81-211(a)-(b) table row 'A. Basic Maximum FAR' (Last Amended 8/14/2025), column 'C5-2.5 C6-4.5 C6-5.5 C6-6.5' = 12.0 for non-residential or mixed buildings (overrides C6-5's 10.0). Residential FAR: § 81-241 — underlying regs apply, C6-5's residential 10.0 inherited unchanged. Yards/height/setback inherited per § 81-021; within Midtown, height/setback are further governed by §§ 81-25 to 81-27 (daylight rules).	10	12	12	NYC Zoning Resolution § 81-021 (C6-5.5 underlying district = C6-5); § 81-211 (basic max FAR 12.0, non-residential/mixed); § 81-241 (residential: underlying regs apply); § 33-122; § 33-123; § 33-25; § 33-26; § 33-43; § 33-432; § 33-451; § 34-112
As of right — wide streetC6-5.5 wide-street context — see the narrow-street row for the full § 81-021 / § 81-211 basis.	10	12	12	NYC Zoning Resolution § 81-021 (C6-5.5 underlying district = C6-5); § 81-211 (basic max FAR 12.0, non-residential/mixed); § 81-241 (residential: underlying regs apply); § 33-122; § 33-123; § 33-25; § 33-26; § 33-43; § 33-432; § 33-451; § 34-112

Values from the NYC Zoning Resolution, verified 2026-07-26; site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify them — run a full lookup for a specific lot.

About commercial districts

Commercial districts allow retail, office, and service uses, and most also allow housing under the rules of a residential-equivalent district. Commercial bulk is governed by § 33- of the NYC Zoning Resolution.

Contextual districts pair their floor-area ceilings with prescribed base and maximum building heights so new buildings mirror existing neighborhood form; non-contextual districts govern the envelope through more general height and setback rules, such as sky exposure planes. Commercial districts also allow residences under the rules of a residential-equivalent district, while manufacturing districts generally exclude new residences. Overlays and special purpose districts can modify any of this on a specific lot.

Example lots zoned C6-5.5

1221 Avenue of the Amer — 102,452 sq ft lot, 25.73 built FAR, built 1971
1251 Avenue of the Amer — 98,206 sq ft lot, 18.26 built FAR, built 1970
1211 Avenue of the Amer — 84,855 sq ft lot, 23.38 built FAR, built 1973
114 West 47 Street — 26,100 sq ft lot, 24.79 built FAR, built 1987
150 West 48th Street — 15,565 sq ft lot, 18.59 built FAR, built 2020
145 West 47th Street — 12,050 sq ft lot, 32.88 built FAR, built 2018
120 West 45 Street — 15,565 sq ft lot, 27.37 built FAR, built 1988
153 West 44 Street — 16,820 sq ft lot, 28.06 built FAR, built 1988
135 West 45 Street — 9,510 sq ft lot, 32.05 built FAR, built 2009
126 West 46 Street — 8,033 sq ft lot, 14.19 built FAR, built 1912
120 West 44 Street — 7,500 sq ft lot, 13.21 built FAR, built 1933
130 West 44 Street — 7,656 sq ft lot, 9.85 built FAR, built 1905

Browse all 51 lots zoned C6-5.5 →

C6-5.5 — quick questions

What is the maximum residential FAR in C6-5.5?: 10, as of right — narrow street, per NYC Zoning Resolution § 81-021 (C6-5.5 underlying district = C6-5); § 81-211 (basic max FAR 12.0, non-residential/mixed); § 81-241 (residential: underlying regs apply); § 33-122; § 33-123; § 33-25; § 33-26; § 33-43; § 33-432; § 33-451; § 34-112. Site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify it — run a full lookup for a specific lot.
What is the maximum commercial FAR in C6-5.5?: 12, as of right — narrow street, per NYC Zoning Resolution § 81-021 (C6-5.5 underlying district = C6-5); § 81-211 (basic max FAR 12.0, non-residential/mixed); § 81-241 (residential: underlying regs apply); § 33-122; § 33-123; § 33-25; § 33-26; § 33-43; § 33-432; § 33-451; § 34-112. Site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify it — run a full lookup for a specific lot.
Is C6-5.5 a contextual district?: No. C6-5.5 is not a contextual district; its building envelope is governed by the district's general height and setback rules rather than a prescribed contextual envelope.
What kind of land use dominates this designation?: Commercial and office use, at 70% of its roughly 51 tax lots, with mixed residential-and-commercial use adding another 22%.
How much housing is recorded on lots zoned this way?: Not much: only 22% of lots are recorded as residential, with 1,482 units counted across them.
How tall is the recorded building stock?: Mid-rise: a median of 9 stories, with 61% of buildings rising above 6 floors.
How old are the buildings here?: Mostly prewar, at 76%, with a median construction year of 1920; the 1945-to-1975 boom and construction since 2000 each contributed just 6% of the stock.

Keep learning

What do the C6-5.5 rules mean for a specific lot?

PearlAudit resolves the governing zoning for any NYC tax lot — district, overlays, special districts — and cites the Zoning Resolution section behind every rule claim.

Run a free lookup See plans

District data: NYC municipal records (Department of City Planning) and the NYC Zoning Resolution. See our sources and methodology. Parcel data as of 2026-07-11.