New York City · guides
New York City guides
Written against what New York City actually publishes, not adapted from another city by swapping the name. Every figure in them is a count we ran, stamped with the window it covers.
How to read a New York reportFour agencies keep the record here and none of them keys it the same way. Which number comes from where, and why two of them are not supposed to agree.Why the borough is not optional350 Broadway is a real address in more than one borough, and they are different buildings. This is the one thing a New York lookup cannot guess.Assessed is not market, and here the gap is the pointNew York assesses most property at a fraction of what it would fetch and limits how fast that figure may climb. A $577m assessment is not an estimate of the price.Built against allowed: the floor area ratioThe single most useful number on a New York lot, and one no other city in this product publishes. The Empire State Building is at 308% of what its own zoning now allows.Two agencies, two meanings, never one numberThe Department of Buildings cites the structure. Housing Preservation and Development cites the conditions inside a rental. A building can be clean on one and heavy on the other.What New York files, and under what nameThirteen filing types worth watching, including four trades filed separately and two complaints that mean a building is not being used the way it was permitted.New York's record, word by wordBBL, BIN, NTA, CO, class C, A1 - what each means here, which body writes it down, and which two are not interchangeable.Where New York's records actually liveEvery source this report reads, named, with the agency that keeps it, so you can check any line of it yourself.What a New York report does not sayThe sale price, the owner, the lease, and six years of 311. What is missing here and why, stated rather than left as an empty box.