Could this pocket of Midtown Manhattan become the city’s next housing hot spot?

City planners are betting big on Midtown South in Manhattan, launching a bold proposal to rezone a 42-block area near Penn Station to tackle the city’s housing crisis.

The plan could bring nearly 10,000 new apartments to the heart of Manhattan, transforming the struggling office district in the wake of COVID into a vibrant, round-the-clock neighborhood, according to city officials.

“It’s unfathomable that in an area this central, with a housing crisis this dire, that if you wanted to build housing here, our own rules would simply not allow it,” City Planning director Dan Garodnick said to reporters at a public briefing last week.

The Department of City Planning kicked off the process this week to reimagine the stretch between 23rd and 40th streets and Fifth and Eighth avenues. The move follows Mayor Eric Adams’ vision to breathe life into the Midtown office market by allowing residential conversions and skyscraper housing development.

The rezoning, officials say, could include up to 2,800 affordable housing units under rules requiring developers to cap rents for low- and middle-income tenants in at least 25% of new apartments.

“There’s a real opportunity to convert in a way that is more equitable and more affordable,” Rafael Cestero, CEO of the Community Preservation Corporation, told Gothamist.