In an unusual move, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is refusing to give clearance to a developer seeking to build an as-of-right apartment building in NoHo.

Adam Gordon is planning to tear down 41 and 43 Bond St. to make way for a seven-unit condominium building, but he has been waiting since August for the commission to hand over a letter to the Department of Buildings declaring that the site is not landmarked.

The commission, Mr. Gordon said, wants to hold off on sending the letter to the buildings department until it decides whether to expand the boundaries of the NoHo Historic District to take in the stretch of Bond Street that includes nos. 41 and 43. The developer, for his part, would like to start demolition before the zoning for the buildings is changed and he can no longer move forward with the project.

“The problem is that, by the time we could get this to court, the area will already be landmarked,” Mr. Gordon said. “They were able to accomplish zoning without playing by the rules.”

Mr. Gordon said he is losing $100,000 a month because of the delay.

“As the developer is aware, this area has been under consideration by the Landmarks Commission for some time,” the executive director of the commission, Kate Daly, said in a statement. “Because 41 and 43 Bond Street are within the boundaries of a proposed historic district, we have been meeting with the developer to discuss his plans for the building.”

A spokeswoman for the buildings department, Kate Lindquist, confirmed that the department has not received a letter from the commission.

“The requirement to submit the letter as part of the permit application ensures designated landmarks are protected from demolition,” she said.

While the expansion of the Noho Historic District to include stretches of West 4th, Great Jones, Lafayette, and Bond streets has been a goal of neighborhood activists for more than a decade, the commission recently decided to expedite the process. It will vote this month to put the expansion plans on the calendar, making way for its possible passage.

The original NoHo Historic District, which was designated in 1999, encompassed a rectangle of land from Houston Street to Astor Place, bordered by Mercer Street to the west and Lafayette Street to the east. In 2003, the community added what is known as NoHo East Historic District, an area that includes a section of Bleecker Street from Lafayette Street to the Bowery, as well as sections of Mott and Elizabeth streets.

The newest proposed addition to the district would affect about 55 buildings dating from the 1860s to the early 1920s. Their Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate façades reflect the neighborhood’s commercial and more recent residential history, according to a briefing prepared by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Mr. Gordon contends that his historical consultant on the project, Higgins, Quasebarth & Partners, have determined that the two buildings he is seeking to demolish have no historic value.

“The façades, the roofs, the floor framings, and interiors were demolished and replaced by very nondescript structures for a plumbing supply business in the 1920s,” he said.

Other historic properties developed by Mr. Gordon around the city include an 1855 townhouse at 92 Jane St. and buildings at 26 and 35 W. 76th St. The developer also owns and is renovating the Bouwerie Lane Theater building, across the street from his proposed development on the corner of Bond Street and the Bowery.

“Adam Gordon has a Catch-22 situation,” the president of the NoHo Neighborhood Association, Zella Jones, said. “He has a really nice building he wants to build, but Landmarks is holding him up. They are not holding up everyone else.”

For instance, the developer of a building within the proposed historic district, 30 Great Jones St., Jerry Gottesman, is well into demolition. Mr. Gottesman, who is president of Edison Properties and Manhattan Mini-Storage, did not return calls for comment.

Neighborhood activists said there was broad support for the extension of the district at the commission’s December 3 meeting.

“I think it’s a great idea,” the president of the SoHo Alliance and chairman of the Landmarks Committee at Community Board 2, Sean Sweeney, said. “NoHo was the first nouveau riche neighborhood in New York City. It has a diverse, eclectic selection of buildings.”

The owner of a new apartment building designed by Deborah Berke, at 48 Bond St., Donald Capoccia, said he was “pleased they are expanding this landmark district.”

“There is a great character to Great Jones and Bond Street that you don’t find in many parts of the city,” he said. “I think it bodes well for property values and the neighborhood.”