Manipulating the intricate zoning code of New York City has long been a badge of honor among a small cadre of developers.
In 1993 developer Laurence Ginsberg was required to lop 12 floors from a 31-story tower on Manhattan’s Upper East Side after he conveniently failed to notice that a height limit applied to his property. For a project called Trump City, the real estate mogul who is now President claimed development rights on a site near Lincoln Center that was partially under the Hudson River. The submerged area would have contributed as much as 4.5 million developable square feet to a massive project that contemplated a 150-story tower and 13 other skyscrapers.
