‘Garmentos’ alerted about possible zoning changes

Samanta Cortes, president of Fashion Design Concepts, on West 38th Street, addresses participants at the International Textile Design Show, held Wednesday morning at the Pennsylvania Hotel.

By Chris Lombardi

Most of the thousands of people attending the trade-only “Direction” textile show on Wednesday morning were there to catch the latest trends, the new colors and styles. Perhaps they wanted to check out print designs from Grafiq Trafiq, new fabric from Masters of Linen, or the latest from the state-of-the-art Digital Design Center exhibit.

But in the downstairs seminar room, Samanta Cortes was running a presentation that was a little different. Rather than “Spring/Summer 2008 Color Trend Overview” or “Implications of Floral Prints and Flower Patterns in Design,” Cortes’ had a stark title: “Garment District Rezoning: The End of the Garment Center.”

The 25 or so attendees, some students, some designers and planners, were people mostly from outside the District: Cortes’ clients and industry observers. They chose her seminar because they knew nothing about zoning changes in the District, as they uniformly told Chelsea Now. “I’ve been in the business for 14 years, and lately a lot of my neighbors left [the Garment District] because they couldn’t get new leases,” said Steve Greenberg, executive director of Pointcarre, a textile software company located on West 40th Street.

With a first slide that said, “The End of the NY Fashion Industry?” Cortes, a slim young woman with a gold belt and a Mexican “purification” necklace, went right to work.

First, she reminded the buyers and designers what area she was talking about: “The main area, the one where you walk down the street to buy fabric, that’s between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, and between Broadway and Sixth Avenue to the south…. Just this inner core is protected, by a law they passed in 1987. The building owners have to reserve half the space for apparel production, and the other half for certain kinds of office space,” said Cortes, noting that these restrictions had been lifted west of Eighth Avenue in 2005 as part of the rezoning of West Chelsea.

“Since those zoning changes were made in December 2005,” said Cortes, “there’s already two residential buildings and two hotels going up. And there were a lot of people who don’t have anywhere to go.” In the still-protected portion of the district, “building owners are refusing to rent to apparel production companies,” choosing instead to violate the law, rent illegally fnor office or residential use, and pay the relatively minimal fines charged by the Department of Buildings.

“These landlords bought these buildings knowing the zoning—knowing it was set aside for us,” said Cortes. “This is, I repeat, our preserved zone area. It’s our area, and we should protect it.”

Pointing at a chart indicating rental patterns in the district and noting that 78 percent of the space in Garment District was rented for approved uses, Cortes then asked a rhetorical question: “Why would anyone want to change the zoning? I can’t figure it out.”

After a breath, she said “But I do know,” and went to the next slide.

A New York Post headline from April 11 filled the screen: RENTS CRASH THROUGH ROOF, with news that Class A office space—the glamorous towers, “places where you have to go through security, even the guy who delivers lunches”—now rents out for an average of $70.77 per square foot. The lure of that money is already changing buildings in the district, Cortes said, starting with the big buildings on the avenues, which are not covered by the Garment District zoning laws.

“Many of you know 1400 [Seventh Avenue], one of the big recognized fashion buildings. They’re converting it to single-floor offices, cramming all the smaller companies on one floor.” When pressed by landlords for $60 a square foot, these small companies who had been paying $20 a square foot often move over to the protected side streets, she said, pushing up the rents for smaller shops and studios. Now, more landlords are holding out for zoning that will allow them to charge more. Cortes said she saw disaster.

In quick slides, she flashed images of some of the newest skyscrapers in the neighborhood. “Here on 40th Street, this was a huge parking lot that served a lot of people in the industry, the old-timers who’d come in,’ Cortes said. “This other one, on 25th, is lofts and Class A commercial. … This is the future. This is why they want us out.”

“I know that part of 40th Street,” said one audience member, aghast. “I used to love to buy fabrics there. Those shops are all gone now.”

Cortes didn’t go into detail about any of the changes that have been floated by the Department of City Planning, such as decreasing the percentage devoted to apparel or allowing bars and restaurants. (DCP officials recently told State Senator Thomas Duane’s office that they were “backing off” on such changes because “it got too controversial.” But a few days later, Crain’s New York Business had trumpeted: “City officials are closing in on a major rezoning plan designed to protect the Garment District’s few remaining production facilities while freeing up millions of square feet for office conversion.” Neither Community Board 4 or 5, nor the City Council, has yet been asked to approve the changes.

If zoning is loosened, Cortes said, smaller workshops will be squeezed out completely. “I predict that in the next two to three years, 50 factories will close. And the studios, I really don’t think that they have even considered the studios.”

Cortes said she didn’t think anyone at DCP had taken these smaller design and service companies into account when they drafted the zoning changes. “These young entrepreneurs, most of them just came up in the past five to 10 years. These are the ones that’ll be hurt the most,” she said. “It means the end of any inspiration, anyone who wants to start a collection.”

Given the already intense competition from Asian manufacturing, Cortes added that if the convenience and quick turnaround offered by entrepreneurs in the district were curtailed, “I can see in 30 years you’ll have everything designed overseas, samples made overseas, clothing manufactured and finished overseas.” All that will be left of New York’s $47 billion fashion industry, she said, will be the boutiques.

At the end of her presentation, Cortes asked her clients and fellow “garmentos” to get involved. She offered lists of elected officials they could contact, and asked them to “please attend meetings about this, so they know you’re there. I know no one has any time, but if it ends up that there’s no industry here, we’ll all have plenty of time.” A meeting the next day at her studio was a start, she said, and there would be more.

After her presentation ended to applause, one group went up to Cortes to ask questions, while others went to the back for the list of phone numbers for elected officials being passed out. Most were simply astonished that they had not heard about the impending changes until now.

Barbara Garner, a fashion and textile designer based in Queens and Brooklyn, said she counts on the Garment District. “I can find stuff on the Internet, but if I need a sample, if I need something in bulk, I know where to go,” she said. She wondered aloud why building owners have been allowed to flout the laws by illegally renting spaces and refusing to rent to the industry. “If you say this is the No. 3 industry [in New York City] and you make these laws to protect it, why don’t you enforce the laws?” she asked. When asked if she plans to contact elected officials, Garner said she’d love to. “It’s true, what [Cortes] said: If you don’t talk about it, no one knows.”

Artist Karen Gentile, chair of the Surface Design Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, agreed, adding that the Garment District trends echoed the way the arts are being trampled elsewhere in the city.

“This is the first I’ve heard about the Garment District side of this, but I’ve heard a lot about it as an artist,” she said. “I do have a friend who’s in the interim patternmaking business—a fabulous businesswoman. She employs about 15 people, but she’s getting pushed out.... Seems to me, the main reason people come to New York is for the arts. So, why pursue policies that make it all dry up?”