The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogonny?

I think this would make a great Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill opera, don't you? With the prostitutes replaced by high tech and finance companies and the lumberjacks replaced by tourists. Listen up.

My sister works for a law firm in Boston that specializes in real estate law. She sent me an article by David Jones that was published in Crain's New York Business last week. Bloomberg has sparked a buying spree in the Garment Center, thanks to a zoning proposal that would allow landlords to convert buildings that have long been zoned for manufacturing to Class-B and Class-C office space. Most rents in the Garment District run around $39.91 per square foot, while midtown rates are running in the $44-45 per square foot.

'"From an investor's point of view, that area has plenty of rental rate growth," said Glenn Whitmore, senior managing director at Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, a Manhattan mortgage banking firm. "I think it's very attractive for a lot of people who are big real estate owners in Manhattan, plus national investors."' Read the entire article Here

Alas, this is a logical extension of the transformation that has been set in place by a number of factors, not the least of which include the offshoring of the garment industry, the expansion of the New York Times along 40th, and the general gentrification of Midtown Manhattan. It's already shown itself personally in Metro Textile's and Rosen and Chadick's moves to new digs, the closing of Poli Fabrics and countless others, and the pressures on small designers that force them to find cheaper digs elsewhere. The contraction of the industry in that part of town is only going to intensify with this move. Kiss the idea of a weekend trip to the Garment District for fabric shopping goodbye. I'd be willing to wager that within two years, the Garment District will only be the name of a nightclub that pops up in the area. You'll be able to see the remants, as it were, of its fine heritage in the Stitch Bar and the Garment Worker, but you'll have to look past the office drones and Disney-esque touristas to find it.


Yes, there is lots of room for comedy, tragedy and irony to play out side by side. And there are lots of juicy characters in this operetta. Alas, the character of the Garment District will no longer be one of them. Go see it while you still can folks.