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The debate over the Garment District continues

By Kristopher Fraser

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The debate over rezoning NYC's Garment District has raged on for years, but with the announcement that the historic site would be moving to Sunset Park in Brooklyn, the issue has been more heated than ever.

For around 200 years, the Garment District has been the center of apparel manufacturing in New York City. Just like the rest of the city, it has undergone some drastic changes, but it's history is still there. Although many of the former manufacturing sites and factories have become showrooms, there are still fabric chops, manufacturers and long-time small businesses left their even has companies have closed and manufacturing has moved overseas.

The current Garment District has one million square feet earmarked for apparel manufacturing and another 1 million earmarked for support purposes. Those that are concerned about the lifting of the Garment District's zoning say the new zoning will no longer merit the number of square feet allotted for the already dwindling Garment District.

Earlier this year New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a 136 million dollar “Made in New York” campus at Bush Terminal in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. Since then, the proposal has been met with critics from all sides, with some saying this is destroying New York's history and killing jobs in the already dwindling district, and others saying this will be great for Brooklyn's economy and bringing manufacturing jobs back to the Greater New York City Area.

The real bone everyone has to pick is phasing out the preservation requirements within the current Garment District.

Garment Center District president has argued that zoning as a job retention tool is not meaningful, and thinks that New York needs to take a better look at its central business district, which the Garment District is a part of.

FashionUnited will continue to follow this story with updates.

Garment District