N.Y. Garment District Named to Historic Register
The 251 buildings that make up New York’s Garment Center Historic District have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The designation allows contributing property owners to be eligible for certain federal historic-preservation tax-incentive programs but does not impose preservation restrictions on the properties. Most of the buildings in the 25-block area, which runs from 34th to 41st streets and from Sixth to Ninth avenues, were built in the 1920s in midtown Manhattan. Many of the structures were designed by prominent architects such as Ely Jacques Kahn, Emory Roth and Starrett & Van Vleck. These buildings used to house the largest garment manufacturing workforce in the world. Now only about 800,000 square feet of property is dedicated to manufacturing, and that is dwindling. Last year, the New York Planning Commission announced it was working on a proposal to relax the stringent zoning requirements of the Special Garment Center District, which requires maintenance of approximately 5 million square feet of space for manufacturing and textile-related uses. Landlords have complained that the zoning is outdated and depresses rents while textile groups have fought to preserve affordable space.—Deborah Belgum
