NYCEDC sans ote [New Vote ity Economie Development Cerpration Predent & CEO ee 212312 3500 Fa 212.312.3913 March 16, 2017 oer Hon. Gale A. Brewer Hon, Corey Johnson Manhattan Borough President Council Member - 3" District, Manhattan 1 Centre Street, 19" Floor 224 West 30" Street, Ste. 1206 New York, NY 10007 New York, NY 10001 Hon, Jerrold Nadler Vicki Barbero Member of Congress Chair ~ Manhattan Community Board 5 201 Varick Street, Ste. 669 450 Seventh Avenue, Ste. 2109 New York, NY 10014 New York, NY 10123, Hon, Brad Hoylman Deloris Rubin NY State Senator - 27" Senate District Chair — Manhattan Community Board 4 322 Eighth Avenue, Ste. 1700 330 West 42™ Street, 26" Fl. New York, NY 10001 ‘New York, NY 10036 Hon, Dick Gottfried NY State Assembly Member - District 75 242 West 27" Street New York, NY 10001 Dear Borough President Brewer, Congressman Nadler, Senator Hoylman, Assembly Member Gottfried, Council Member Johnson, Chair Barbero, and Chair Rubin: On behalf of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the New York City Department of City Planning, thank you for sharing your thoughts and questions about the City’s efforts to support the fashion manufacturing industry. New York has long been 2 global leader in fashion design and garment manufacturing, and the City is proud to affirm its long-standing support for the industry. The City’s latest effort is being developed in the context of the steep decline of local fashion manufacturing, We recognize that retaining the garment manufacturing sector is critical to the health of the broader fashion industry, which makes up over 5% of the City’s workforce. With only approximately 21,000 garment manufacturing jobs remaining in New York City, down from 122,000 in the 1980s, the City’s primary goal is stabilizing, modemizing and strengthening the sector. To help stem this decline, Mayor de Blasio along with industry leaders tripled the City’s commitment in the fashion industry in 2015 from $5 million to $15 million, This includes $6 million for the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, which offers grants to businesses for new machinery, technology, and software upgrades. He also launched the Made in NY: Fashion 110 Wiam Stes, New York, AY 10038 ® 212.619.5090 # wwweryendc cominitiative to catalyze the growth of emerging designers and brands, galvanize the fashion design and manufacturing community, and cultivate a pipeline of industry talent. More than thirty designers ate now officially ‘Made in NY’ certified, with 75 percent of their production manufactured right here within the five boroughs. To further our goal of stabilizing the fashion industry, over the past 18 months, the City and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) have conducted outreach to garment manufacturers, designers, showrooms/suppliers, and industry leaders to better understand the challenges the industry faces today and discuss practical, long-term solutions to address them. ‘Through interviews and focus groups, we have met with over 100 companies, individuals and organizations in the industry, which helped to identify: * Key barriers to operating in New York City, and especially the Garment District; * Information on New York City’s unique fashion ecosystem and supply chain; * Opportunities to support and fill critical gaps in the industry; and + Interest in relocating or expanding to other fashion clusters. We understand that the industry is complex and that several strategies must be employed to maximize engagoment with businesses. To this end, we are currently expanding our outreach to meet directly with additional garment manufacturers, fashion companies, and other stakeholders to ensure their input informs the continued development of the City’s initiative, Members of our ing garment manufacturers as I write to survey these businesses on their needs. team are visi ‘The Garment Center remains the historic home of the fashion industry, and the City and industry expeets that many manufacturing businesses will continue to flourish there, Today, there are approximately 830,000 square feet of garment manufacturing space located in the Garment District’s preservation areas. Through our outreach to date, we understand that manufacturers in the district are operating on varied lease terms, ranging from month-to-month to more than 10 years, For those manufacturing businesses that have been successful in the Garment Center, the City is exploring an expansion of our programs to help them stay competitive, and creating ‘opportunities for them to expand, We are also exploring tools to help mitigate real estate pressure from competing uses like hotels, For other manufacturers that have struggled to find a stable real estate solution in the Garment Center, the de Blasio administration has committed creating new, affordable space in City-owned assets in Sunset Park, which has organically become New York City’s second largest garment manufacturing hub. The Sunset Park neighborhood contains nearly 2.4 million square feet of available, leasable industrial space on the private market, making it an attractive and competitive industrial market for garment businesses to thrive. This is in addition to the newly renovated space at City-owned and NYCEDC-managed industrial assets: after an over $100 million+ renovation of the Brooklyn Army Terminal, NYCEDC will have over 500,000 square feet of industrial space available for lease starting this fall. NYCEDC, as a mission-driven non-profitentity, will offer garment manufacturers long-term leases at affordable rates in state-of-the-art newly renovated industrial buildings. And this is in advance of the City’s $136 million investment in 200,000 square feet of dedicated space for garment manufacturers at the Made in NY Campus at Bush Terminal, which will come online in 2020, We believe strongly that the way to ensure the Sunset Park waterfront remains an affordable, job-intensive industrial center is to invest in modern manufacturing spaces, We are proud of the work this administration has done to ensure that. We believe that garment manufacturing, a historic sector in the area, will fit well within Sunset Park's industrial landscape well into the future, The City is committed to working with the industry to develop long-term practical solutions to stabilize, modemize and protect this critical sector. We look forward to continuing the discussion with you, your constituents, and garment manufacturers, as we continue our efforts to preserve and develop fashion manufacturing in New York City. Singerely, Jathes Patchett President, New York City Economic Development Corporation Ce: Marisa Lago, Director, New York City Department of City Planning