Air-Rights Money To Benefit NYC Theatre Community? Maybe Not.

Two Manhattan theatres are finally taking advantage of a previously unused 1998 air-rights transfer law intended to benefit the theatre community through a surcharge added to the price of the development rights. “But there’s a snag. Though two developers — who are buying the air rights for more than $20 million — are ready to hand over the special payments, the city government is not prepared to accept them. It never created the fund to hold the money or the council that is supposed to oversee it. As a result, it is not clear if the theater community will ever directly benefit from the windfall.”