Garment district is wearing thin
Fashion Week just came to
a close in New York City, but apparel manufacturers aren’t celebrating. They say new development in the Garment District has
them hanging by a string.
to give us some space to keep these
people, I don’t know how we’ll be
able to produce in this city,” she
said.
Studio Rouge has lost its
button supplier, it’s corset supplier
Office space, hotels and
and a fabric supplier in recent
other commercial
years, as new comuses have sprouted
mercial uses have
up in the district,
killed the afforda“It’s
always
been
a
driving up rents
bility of the Garment
and forcing stitchDistrict.
Since
commercial use.
ers and sewers to
Broadway demands
Now its just a
move elsewhere.
such quick turnAnd with the city
cleaner commercial around, she says
revisiting zoning
these places can’t
use.”
there,
longtime
afford to move overapparel businesses
seas.
-Jim Buslik,
are speaking up to
preserve the indusAdams & Co. But Abraham Hitry and, some say,
dary, president of
their livelihood.
Hidrock
Realty,
says apparel manufacturers
“If we don’t save the Gardon’t have to.
ment Center, I’m going to have to
close down too,” said Rosalie Zin“Manufacturing compagales, owner of Studio Rouge.
nies have been on their way out
for years,” he said. “We’re not
Zingales has written letters
putting them out of business.”
to the City’s economic development office explaining the plight of
While some businesses
her company, should suppliers
have gone overseas, Hidary says
continue to close shop. Neighbormany of them stay tied into the
hood groups like Save the Garment
Manhattan scene by relocating
Center — along with Zingales —
to Long Island City. Developers
fear the District will evolve into
have eyed many other commeranother SoHo.
cial needs in the Garment District and the changes in uses re“It’s inevitable for develflect those needs. Hidary wants
opment, but if they don’t rezone it
to see those manufacturing busi-
nesses thrive, just not necessarily
in Manhattan.
As new types of commercial developers move in, which
result in a move diversified by
neighborhood, with much more
to offer. On 39th Street (between
8th and 9th Avenue) Hidary notes
that construction for seven new
hotels is underway in a single
block. This activity, he says, is
healthy for the District.
“Overall, it’ll make the
area much more vibrant. We’ll
have better quality tenants and
more tourism,” Hidary said. “
There’s still a need for restaurants , but they’re not there yet
… I don’t think it’s chic enough.
James Buslik, a principal
at Adams & Co. Real Estate,
agreed. It’s always been a commercial use. Now it’s just a cleaner
commercial use,” said Buslik.
According to Buslik, today’s trend in the district includes
a bigger draw for office space
along the avenues. Showrooms are
moving from the avenues to the
Garment District’s side streets and,
as a result, property owners are
taking the initiative like never before to improve their buildings;
Garment District landlords have
installed speedier elevators, invested in façade work, and renovated lobbies.
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With the exception of a
small area between 8th and 9th
Avenues , the neighborhood is
not zoned for residential use, but
an anticipated increase in foot
traffic and tourism will also influence commercial demands in
the Garment District.
“There’s more residential on the fringe, in the surrounding neighborhoods of the
Garment District,” Buslik said.
In the past, residential space had
little impact on commercial development of the area, but now
that space has filled in nearby,
Buslik says commercial demands
are changing. And eventually he
expects developers will bring in
more inviting retail.
Whether that forces out
the manufacturers remains to be
seen, but — like every Manhattan neighborhood — they can
expect to shell out more money
if they want to stay within the
pulse of New York. Buslik has
seen some apparel manufacturers
move into the Meatpacking District, Chelsea and the Flatiron
District. The small niche manufacturers, he says, will survive
here.
“But you’re not going to
see a sewing manufacturer with
100 machines” he added. “The
labor is just too expensive.”
According to figures
supplied by the Garment Industry Development Corporation,
apparel factories/suppliers made
up 21% of the District’s tenants
in 2006, while 36% were showrooms and fashion offices.
Their data shows that
nearly 60% of the neighborhood
is comprised of apparel businesses.
Close to 100 factories
remain in the Garment District,
the mid-blocks of 35th through
40th Street (from Broadway to 9th
Avenue). But Magda Aboulfadl,
enforcement project manager at
the Garment Industry Development Corporation, says those
numbers are rapidly dwindling.
“The apparel factories
are leaving, mostly, because their
leases are not being renewed,”
Aboulfadl said. “But they’ve
wanted to stay.”
When Illinois Pension
bought a building in the Garment
District, Aboulfadl knew the
neighborhood was on the cusp of
major change. She says the
struggle for manufacturers to
stay here began many years ago,
but since last year, they have
been packing their bags in
greater numbers.
“The Garment District
was discovered by the real estate
industry last year,” Aboulfadl
said.
Revisions to the Special
Garment Center Zoning could
expedite change in the neighborhood or better preserve manufacturing as a mainstay in the Garment District. Existing zoning
only allows landlords to convert
their production space to general
office space if they commit to
matching each square foot of
office space with production
space. But the 20-year old law
doesn’t apply to the District’s
avenues and that 1:1 ratio is up
for debate.
Talks of amending the
Garment District’s zoning began
18 months ago but Rachaele
Raynoff, a spokesperson for the
City’s planning commission
could not give a timetable for the
rezoning project, though she acknowledged the many stakeholders involved.
“Reaching a consensus
is an important part of the process,” she said.
Once such consensus is
reached, any proposed revisions
would fall under a seven-month
public review process, a public
hearing with the planning commission and approval from the
city council, before becoming
law.
Manufacturers and developers remain at odds in terms
of which commercial uses are
best suited for the area. The
City’s challenge lies in fostering
more affordable office space
without driving the demise of the
industry that has defined the
neighborhood for so many decades
By Jason Turcotte
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