The first public hearing on the proposal was held Monday night.
The rezoning would increase density in one of the city's oldest and most established business districts, the area surrounding Grand Central Terminal.
The city hopes the rezoning will encourage the construction of new state-of-the-art commercial buildings.
Development under the rezoning is expected to expand the city's tax base, add thousands of permanent jobs in East Midtown and fund improvements to the subway and pedestrian network in the area.
The East Midtown plan is also the first initiative to require a higher standard for energy efficiency, ensuring that new office towers utilizing the zoning incentives will be at the leading edge of energy efficiency.
The rezoning covers the area generally bounded by East 39th Street to the south, East 57th Street to the north, Second and Third Avenues to the east and a line 150 feet east of Fifth Avenue to the west. The area includes Grand Central Terminal at its core with Park Avenue as its central spine, and is served by the Lexington Avenue subway and cross-town subway lines on 42nd and 53rd Streets.
