New construction will generally follow the old footprint as well.
My house was built in 1994 and the lower level is roughly 4ft or so below street/sidewalk/alley grade.
We call ours the basement, but in a 3 flat building in the same footprint it would typically be called a garden apartment as it opens to the same level as my backyard and front 'patio' area.
My garage is built to street grade, so my backyard is sunken about 4ft from the street to the alley. This holds true for all my neighbors on the block, thus water retention isn't quite as horrific as it might sound during heavy rains. Lots of sump pumps on the block that are 100% required during storms, but strangely mine had none installed and it's been fine.
Utilities (sewer) run about 1 foot or so under my foundation to the street, where they are about 5-6ft deep under the street if they need to do work.
New construction (tear downs) will typically build below street grade as well since you get an extra floor (4 stories vs. 3) for your new home while remaining under the zoning height restrictions for the neighborhood.
