# Umarelli > Umarelli maps construction in New York City and Jersey City: building permits (filed since March 2021 in New York City and since 2020 in Jersey City), property tax and assessment figures, zoning capacity, land use and landmark applications, and construction news, each tied to its tax lot. It reads public open-data sources directly and is free to use at https://umarelli.org. An umarell is one of those retired men who stand at a construction site with their hands behind their backs, watching the work. Umarelli does the same for two cities. ## What it shows - Building permits by type: new construction, major renovation, alteration, addition and demolition, with filing dates, estimated cost, units, stories and floor area. - Property taxes: the current bill, taxable and market value, land versus building value, value per acre, and for New York condominiums each unit's value, tax and last sale. - Zoning: the district, allowed floor area ratio and how much of it a New York lot has built. - Approvals: New York City Planning land use applications, Board of Standards and Appeals decisions and Landmarks Preservation Commission permits; Jersey City planning and zoning board applications. - News: New York YIMBY, Jersey Digs and Brownstoner development coverage, matched to the lot each article is about. ## Sources - New York City: Department of Buildings permits, PLUTO, Department of Finance assessments, charges and sales, Landmarks Preservation Commission permits and City Planning's ZAP, all via NYC Open Data. - Jersey City: construction permits from the city's permit portal (EnerGov) and data.nj.gov, and parcel assessments (MOD-IV) from the New Jersey statewide parcel service. ## Building pages Every tax lot has its own page listing its permits, tax figures, tax breaks, zoning and latest news: - New York City: `https://umarelli.org/nyc/{BBL}`, where the BBL is the ten-digit borough, block and lot number, for example [86 University Place](https://umarelli.org/nyc/1005690025). - Jersey City: `https://umarelli.org/jersey-city/{block}/{lot}`, for example [180 River Drive](https://umarelli.org/jersey-city/7302/3.09). Lots with a recent permit or news article are listed in the [sitemap](https://umarelli.org/sitemap.xml). ## Neighborhood pages Each neighborhood with recent construction has a page of its new buildings and major renovations (since March 2021 in New York City, 2020 in Jersey City), with totals, a map and every filing linked to its building page: `https://umarelli.org/nyc/{borough}/{neighborhood}`, for example [Greenpoint](https://umarelli.org/nyc/brooklyn/greenpoint), and `https://umarelli.org/jersey-city/{area}/{neighborhood}`, for example [Paulus Hook](https://umarelli.org/jersey-city/downtown/paulus-hook). New York neighborhoods follow the Department of Finance's neighborhood for each tax block; Jersey City's follow the city's neighborhood map. [New York City](https://umarelli.org/nyc), [Jersey City](https://umarelli.org/jersey-city) and each borough or area, such as [Brooklyn](https://umarelli.org/nyc/brooklyn), rank their neighborhoods by units, apartment buildings (5+ homes), houses (1–4 homes), major renovations or filings in the last 12 months (`?sort=units|apartments|houses|renovations|recent`). Every page is listed in the sitemap. ## Jersey City PILOTs [Jersey City PILOTs](https://umarelli.org/jersey-city/pilots) lists every long-term PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement in the state's PILOT database, with its start and end dates, PILOT payment, tax if billed normally and tax forgone, each linked to its building page. Sort with `?sort=end|start|billing|normal|forgone`. Five-year abatements and other incentives aren't included. ## Find a building by address `https://umarelli.org/find?address={street address}` redirects to that building's page, for example [205 Montague Street, Brooklyn](https://umarelli.org/find?address=205%20Montague%20Street%2C%20Brooklyn). New York City is assumed; add "Jersey City" for addresses there. An address it cannot place answers 404 with a short explanation. ## Plain text Add `.md` to any building or neighborhood page URL for a Markdown version, for example [205 Montague Street](https://umarelli.org/nyc/3002440001/205-montague-street.md), or request one of those pages or the home page with `Accept: text/markdown`. ## MCP server `https://umarelli.org/mcp` is a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP, no sign-in) with three read-only tools: `search` finds buildings by address, `fetch` returns a building's record as Markdown, and `recent_permits` lists new buildings and major renovations near an address, newest first. Add it as a custom connector in Claude or ChatGPT; [setup steps for people](https://umarelli.org/connect). ## Links - [Umarelli](https://umarelli.org/): the map, with a list of permits or tax parcels beside it - [Jersey City](https://umarelli.org/?c=jersey-city): Jersey City only - [New York City](https://umarelli.org/?c=nyc): New York City only - [Data sources](https://umarelli.org/sources): every source, its publisher, and how current it is - [Methodology](https://umarelli.org/methodology.md): the rules behind every figure, and where to send corrections ## Notes for agents - Building pages include their summary as plain HTML, so they can be read without running scripts. - Figures are refreshed within a day of each city release. Some city datasets only update quarterly or yearly; the data sources page shows when each one last changed. - Link people to building pages rather than copying records in bulk. Paths under `/data/` are internal and may change.