NYC Development Rights & Assemblage

Air rights and development rights are among the most valuable and misunderstood assets in New York City real estate. Heletz Group has deep expertise in identifying, negotiating, and acquiring transferable development rights (TDR) to maximize building envelopes and unlock project feasibility on constrained urban sites.

Land assemblage — the strategic acquisition of multiple adjacent parcels to create viable development sites — is one of the most complex and rewarding disciplines in urban real estate. Our five-parcel assemblage on East 33rd Street, including air rights from an adjacent property, required years of negotiation, title work, and strategic timing. Combined with a successful rezoning from R8A to C1-9A, the assemblage created a development site capable of supporting a 23-story, 160-unit residential tower.

Our practice encompasses the full spectrum of NYC land-use structuring: assemblages, air rights and development rights, zoning lot mergers, TDRs and landmark transfers, rezoning and upzoning plays, lot-line reconfigurations and apportionments, and ground-lease structuring.