The city’s fashion industry generates $9 billion in total wages and contributes $1.7 billion in annual tax revenue, a new report by the Municipal Art Society on the Garment District shows, but it’s losing steam thanks to high rents and competition in manufacturing in other countries, particularly Asia.

“New York risks losing it all unless we focus on our core strengths and learn from our competitors; implement smart strategies; find efficiencies in the existing systems; invest in the human and physical infrastructure; and pool the intellectual, creative and financial resources of all the district’s key constituencies,” said Vin Cipolla, president of the Municipal Art Society. “If we do that successfully, the future of our fashion industry can serve as a model for job creation efforts across the U.S.” – Katherine Clarke [more]

From left: the Eventi Hotel and the Ace Hotel (credit: PropertyShark)

The small, up-and-coming businesses that once thrived along the stretch between Madison Square Park and Herald Square, are becoming endangered by residential development, according to the New York Times.

Two decades ago the area was filled with vacant lots and rundown buildings. That old building stock offered start-ups, dentists, architects and other small tenants cheap rents.

But with rampant development in the area, which includes glassy condominiums, trendy hotels and razed lots readied for future construction, those small tenants fear their office space may no longer be so cheap. [more]

In an effort to bolster the Garment District from an area run by workday commuters into a 24-hour destination, the local business improvement district mailed a letter to major operators last week to sell them on developing the area. DNAinfo reported that the BID called attention to the 91,000 employees and concentrated public transit in the area, as well as nearby attractions Times Square and Herald Square. Locals want more activity in the area. “There’s no destination dining in this neighborhood. There’s really no destination anything,” said Barbara Randall, president of the Fashion Center BID. “The neighborhood has always closed at night.” [more]

From the March issue: These days, few areas of Manhattan can be considered undervalued, despite fallout from the recent recession. “At this point, Manhattan is pretty mature,” said developer Matthew Blesso, president of Blesso Properties. “We’re going through this incredible recession, and it’s not like some of the neighborhoods are going to the pits, the way they did in previous recessions.” Still, there are pockets of the city that haven’t yet reached their full potential, where small investors (or homebuyers) looking for the greatest financial upside can snap up deals. [more]

From the March issue: In response to the continued exodus of manufacturing jobs from the Garment Center neighborhood, the city approved a special zoning district 24 years ago this month to preserve the character of the once-bustling apparel district.
The new regulations required that in the affected properties, no additional space could be converted to office use from manufacturing unless the same amount of space was preserved in another building.
The regulations were put in place to protect apparel producers because they were being squeezed from all sides at once.
For one, offshore manufacturers were producing apparel far more cheaply, undercutting domestic companies. At the same time, office tenants were offering to pay much more in rent. Indeed, building owners could improve the space and lease to office tenants who could pay up to $20 per square foot in rent, while manufacturing firms would pay only $8 to $10 per foot. Click here for more.

The Municipal Art Society of New York has released its top 11 initiatives for 2011, on which it plans to focus its advocacy and programming efforts this year. First on the list of priorities is completing the redevelopment of Moynihan Station and Hudson Yards, followed by the preserving the Garment District as an “ecosystem for the fashion industry,” crafting a plan for interim housing in case a natural disaster strikes the city and rethinking the future of public housing. Also on the list were NYU’s expansion, the next phase of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC and Coney Island. Click here for the full rundown. TRD [more]

From the November issue: When Fashion 26 opens its doors this December, one young hotelier may
have white knuckles: The spot is the first that Steven Kassin, the
24-year-old Infinity Group principal, has led from start to finish.
“It’s my baby,” Kassin said of the Garment District hotel at 152
West 26th Street, on the corner of Seventh Avenue. “I’m young and I
can’t afford to mess up.”
Kassin, who’s been working with the Infinity Group since graduating
with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New York University at
age 20, is heading up the $90 million project, in partnership with CPI,
Citigroup’s real estate private equity group. Rooms start at $275 per
night.

From left: Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson

A camera lens analogy might help voters understand where Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson, who are New York’s main mayoral candidates, stand on key real estate issues ahead of tomorrow’s election. Bloomberg, the Republican incumbent, seems to favor a wide-angle approach, as his sweeping rezoning of a fifth of the city, or 8,400 blocks over eight years in office, would indicate. Focused on creating denser, more transit-oriented development, according to his PlaNYC, which was unveiled in 2007, the city has famously paved the way for homes to be built into once-industrial swaths of land, notably along the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn. [more]

Democratic mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller William Thompson told the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce today that, if elected, he would reinforce existing zoning laws for manufacturers, protecting them from “real estate speculators who offer only short-term leases,” as a means of encouraging financial recovery. Noting that the securities industry accounted for 25 percent of city wages in 2007, Thompson emphasized the need for New York to diversify the types of businesses it houses and encourage the growth of smaller commercial outlets in the city. Thompson also pledged to help the fashion industry, saying that he would work with labor unions to dedicate one million square feet of space in non-profit buildings for garment manufacturing. “Imagine if we had used the millions of dollars we spent on Yankees Stadium on efforts like this,” Thompson said. “Instead of creating part-time jobs like ushers and concession workers, we would have created many more full-time, good-paying jobs.”

From the September issue: There are bargains to be had in the Garment District — and not just
for $9.99 sweaters. Seventh and Eighth avenues in the 20s and 30s are a
retail renters’ market, with rents among the lowest in Manhattan today,
sources said. In some cases, they’re a steep discount compared to
prices in adjacent neighborhoods such as Chelsea, where rents are about
30 percent higher.
While the area has long been one of the most affordable commercial
neighborhoods in Manhattan, the deals there have sweetened even more
lately, as rents across the city have nosedived. At the same time, more than a dozen retail locations in the area,
particularly along Seventh Avenue in the 20s, are either in the process
of changing hands or have recently come on the market. [more]