The sun rises over East Midtown

East Midtown has been New York City’s economic engine for decades. It is home to more than 250,000 jobs and dozens of Fortune 500 companies. The district generates 10% of the city’s property tax base.

But in recent years, that engine has sputtered. East Midtown’s office buildings are 75 years old on average, and have become increasingly out of date and inefficient for today’s companies. The district’s historic growth has long been driven by access to public transit, but today its subways and streets are at capacity. We can do so much better. That’s why the city is updating the area’s decades-old zoning code to spur the creation of millions of square feet of top-of-theline office space, which is expected to generate 28,000 new permanent jobs and over 23,000 construction jobs in the next two decades.

And, importantly, we’ve tied that growth directly to improvements in the district’s public transit and public spaces, so that, as new buildings rise, New Yorkers will see major investments in subway stations, less congested sidewalks and expansive plazas for office workers and visitors alike.

The City Council is expected to approve this plan Wednesday.

An earlier version gave far too much certainty to the real estate community, with few guarantees that the public would see tangible benefits as a result of new density. After that version was shelved, Mayor de Blasio asked local leaders to start over, with the participation of a diverse group of stakeholders representing the local community boards, historic landmarks, labor, real estate and business improvement districts on an East Midtown Steering Committee.

During 19 meetings over 10 months, this committee collaboratively crafted the framework for the East Midtown rezoning, which led to the specific zoning code the City Council is voting on Wednesday.

By updating the zoning code, we will be incentivizing new Class A spaces that will keep East Midtown competitive with other global business hubs, and attract the good jobs thousands of New Yorkers depend upon.

But new buildings are not the only things that make a commercial district great.

East Midtown’s overburdened transit needs real investment. That’s why we are requiring new buildings near subway stations there to deliver concrete improvements to the stations like new and expanded entrances, escalators, elevators and stairwells, as well as full station rehabilitations.

Added together, these changes will reduce platform overcrowding, lessen train lag time in stations and cut down on delays. We anticipate these investments could total half a billion dollars in subway upgrades throughout the neighborhood — an impact that will be felt by straphangers citywide.

And to make sure those promises become reality, developers will not be able to legally occupy their new buildings until the transit upgrades are complete.

We have also taken steps to preserve our historic resources in the area by recently designating 12 additional individual landmarks — bringing the total number of landmarks in the district to 50 — and by broadening the area into which they can sell unused air rights.

This will not only help them raise funds for necessary improvements, but 20% of every air rights sale will go to a fund that will help to enhance the public spaces in Midtown. Most of the development sites in the district will also be required to include brand new spaces for the public as part of their building plans.

And to jump-start all of this, the city has agreed to make an initial $50 million investment to start improving public spaces today, even before a single new building is built. One of the first projects will be a landscaped, furnished, “shared street” on an entire block of 43rd St. just to the east of Grand Central Terminal — a new, beautiful area to sit and stroll, and a dignified approach to one of the nation’s most important transit hubs.

Smart planning like this — community-generated, focused on transit, and with guaranteed benefits for the public — should serve as a model for other neighborhoods throughout the city. But it begins today in East Midtown.