C6-1 Zoning District — New York City
C6-1 is a high-density General Central Commercial District (NYC Zoning Resolution § 11-122) in New York City.
C6-1 is a high-density General Central Commercial District (NYC Zoning Resolution § 11-122) in New York City. It allows commercial uses, and generally also housing under the rules of a residential-equivalent district. Under the as of right — narrow street rules, the maximum residential FAR is 3.44 and the maximum commercial FAR is 6. 501 tax lots citywide carry C6-1 as their primary zoning designation.
Age is the defining fact on the roughly 500 lots carrying this designation: a median construction year of 1915, with 82% of recorded buildings predating 1940 — among the oldest stock in this set of districts. It is also heavily residential, at 72% of lots, led by walk-up apartment buildings at 27% of recorded classes, on a median lot of 2,565 square feet, with 8,350 homes on record.
What actually stands in this district
Of the districts profiled here, few carry an older recorded building stock than this one. Across roughly 500 lots, the median construction year is 1915, and 82% of recorded buildings predate 1940 — a share high enough that the postwar era barely registers, at just 5% of the stock, and construction since 2000 adds only 8% more. Whatever rebuilding has happened here has been the exception, not the rule, on lots whose buildings were substantially in place before the current zoning code existed, and the gap between the prewar share and everything that followed is one of the wider ones in this set. That imbalance between the prewar share and the decades that followed is one of the starker ones recorded across this batch of districts.
The recorded classes are led by walk-up apartment buildings at 27%, with store buildings at 18% and condominiums at 12% — a corridor pattern of housing over storefronts more than a single building type. Land use runs 62% mixed residential-and-commercial, with commercial and office at 13% and public facilities and institutions at 8%. Residential use covers 72% of the lots, among the higher shares recorded in this set, and the file counts 8,350 homes — a large recorded population for lots this old and this modestly sized. The remaining recorded classes fall below the shares reported here individually, consistent with the mixed residential-and-commercial land-use pattern above.
Lots run a median of 2,565 square feet, with the largest lots on record reaching 12,700 square feet, tight rowhouse-corridor ground rather than assembled sites. Height sits at a median of 5 floors, with 23% of the recorded stock rising above 6 floors. A recorded 4% of lots sit inside a designated historic district, a small landmark-review layer on top of the age already on record, worth checking address by address rather than assumed across the whole designation. That small a lot size, on a designation this old, is consistent with a fabric assembled one rowhouse-scale parcel at a time rather than through larger site assembly.
Development records show 33% of lots carrying floor area below their allowance, though the median residual is 0 — most of what stands here already sits close to its recorded line rather than leaving broad room, consistent with a fabric this old and this settled. None of the lots carrying this designation are recorded inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area, a contrast with some of the other designations in this set, where flood shares run considerably higher. Every lot's own governing floor-area figure, with its citation, is set out on its own page and in the rules tables above.
Bulk rules for C6-1
| Context | Residential FAR | Commercial FAR | Community facility FAR | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| As of right — narrow street§ 33-432 slope differs by street type: 2.7:1 narrow / 5.6:1 wide. | 3.44 | 6 | 6.5 | NYC Zoning Resolution § 33-122, § 33-123, § 33-25, § 33-26, § 33-43, § 33-432, § 34-112 |
| As of right — wide street§ 33-432 slope differs by street type: 2.7:1 narrow / 5.6:1 wide. | 4 | 6 | 6.5 | NYC Zoning Resolution § 33-122, § 33-123, § 33-25, § 33-26, § 33-43, § 33-432, § 34-112 |
Values from the NYC Zoning Resolution, verified 2026-06-12; site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify them — run a full lookup for a specific lot.
About commercial districts
Commercial districts allow retail, office, and service uses, and most also allow housing under the rules of a residential-equivalent district. Commercial bulk is governed by § 33- of the NYC Zoning Resolution.
Contextual districts pair their floor-area ceilings with prescribed base and maximum building heights so new buildings mirror existing neighborhood form; non-contextual districts govern the envelope through more general height and setback rules, such as sky exposure planes. Commercial districts also allow residences under the rules of a residential-equivalent district, while manufacturing districts generally exclude new residences. Overlays and special purpose districts can modify any of this on a specific lot.
Example lots zoned C6-1
- 125 Delancey Street — 43,206 sq ft lot, 7.42 built FAR, built 2016
- 215 Chrystie Street — 22,705 sq ft lot, 9.46 built FAR, built 2014
- 849 Broadway — 17,877 sq ft lot, 12.25 built FAR, built 1900
- 7 East 14 Street — 31,800 sq ft lot, 13.94 built FAR, built 1965
- 71 Smith Street — 27,582 sq ft lot, 12.21 built FAR, built 2014
- 797 Broadway — 19,575 sq ft lot, 7.62 built FAR, built 2019
- 196 Park Row — 68,732 sq ft lot, 4.46 built FAR, built 1965
- 61 Bond Street — 18,170 sq ft lot, 9.11 built FAR, built 2017
- 242 Broome Street — 21,996 sq ft lot, 6.23 built FAR, built 2016
- 2 Elizabeth Street — 25,125 sq ft lot, 7.02 built FAR, built 1985
- 10 Stanton Street — 34,430 sq ft lot, 4.86 built FAR, built 1985
- 65 Hoyt Street — 40,315 sq ft lot, 5.09 built FAR, built 2005
C6-1 — quick questions
- What is the maximum residential FAR in C6-1?
- 3.44, as of right — narrow street, per NYC Zoning Resolution § 33-122, § 33-123, § 33-25, § 33-26, § 33-43, § 33-432, § 34-112. Site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify it — run a full lookup for a specific lot.
- What is the maximum commercial FAR in C6-1?
- 6, as of right — narrow street, per NYC Zoning Resolution § 33-122, § 33-123, § 33-25, § 33-26, § 33-43, § 33-432, § 34-112. Site-specific overlays, special districts, and waterfront rules can modify it — run a full lookup for a specific lot.
- Is C6-1 a contextual district?
- No. C6-1 is not a contextual district; its building envelope is governed by the district's general height and setback rules rather than a prescribed contextual envelope.
- What's the age profile of the buildings recorded on these lots?
- Very old on average: a median construction year of 1915, with 82% of recorded buildings predating 1940. Only 5% dates to the 1945-to-1975 postwar boom, and 8% has been built since 2000.
- Is this designation mostly residential?
- Largely, yes: 72% of the roughly 500 lots are recorded as residential, led by walk-up apartment buildings at 27% of recorded classes, with 8,350 homes on record.
- Do these lots record any unused floor-area capacity?
- 33% of lots record floor area below their allowance, but the median residual is 0 — most of the stock already sits near its recorded line rather than leaving broad room to add.
- Do lots with this designation carry flood risk on the federal map?
- No — 0% are recorded inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area.
Keep learning
What do the C6-1 rules mean for a specific lot?
PearlAudit resolves the governing zoning for any NYC tax lot — district, overlays, special districts — and cites the Zoning Resolution section behind every rule claim.
District data: NYC municipal records (Department of City Planning) and the NYC Zoning Resolution. See our sources and methodology. Parcel data as of 2026-07-11.