TDR

TDR is the family of mechanisms by which unused development rights — floor area a lot could carry but has not built — move from one lot to another. The general-purpose mechanism is the zoning-lot merger, which combines adjacent lots on a block into one zoning lot whose floor-area budget the owners allocate by recorded agreement. Designated landmarks have a special path: § 74-79 of the Zoning Resolution allows transfers from landmark lots to qualifying adjacent lots by special permit, with adjacency defined more broadly than physical contiguity.

Some special purpose districts operate their own transfer mechanisms with their own geographies. In every variant, the transfer is documentary and lot-specific — recorded instruments bind identified lots — and the receiving site must still fit the acquired floor area within its own envelope rules.