Once famed as New York City’s fashion hive, the Garment District has seen a cohort of advertising and tech start-ups move to the area in recent years, creating a new neighborhood that’s becoming one of Manhattan’s most exclusive enclaves
Take a stroll down Seventh Avenue (aka Fashion Avenue) in New York City’s Garment District, where the names of fashion elite such as Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, and Ralph Lauren are engraved in the sidewalk, and you’re instantly reminded that this is the style world’s hallowed ground.
These days, however, you’re more likely to find the creative mastermind behind the latest Madison Avenue ad campaign sipping a latte at Culture Espresso than the creative director of a major clothing label.
During the Garment District’s manufacturing heyday from the 1920s to the 1950s, the fashion industry depended on the area for its tight-knit community of 150,000 specialty suppliers and skilled workers. Today that number is more like 5,000. And while some marquee names such as Calvin Klein and Nanette Lepore maintain offices in the district, the majority of designers have left for the larger studio spaces and lower rents in Brooklyn’s newly recharged Navy Yard and Sunset Park.
It didn’t take long for another set of creative geniuses to move into the spacious loft buildings that define this neighborhood. Advertising, PR, design, and tech firms, eager to tap into the artistic buzz created by the fashion industry, began showing up in the mid 2000s.
Today the area encompassing the streets between 35th and 40th and the avenues between Broadway and Ninth is still home to a treasure trove of architectural and historical gems, but now there are artists’ spaces, boutique hotels, gourmet coffee houses, and other trendy establishments setting up shop as well.
Slowly and quietly, the Garment District has in recent years become one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in New York City. In 2018 it placed third in real estate database PropertyShark’s annual listing of the most expensive neighborhoods in Manhattan. Its 41 percent year-on-year increase and median sale price of $2.33 million was in part due to new luxury residential high-rises, such as The Bryant by award-winning British architect David Chipperfield.
People flock here for the artistic energy, a vibe that’s never really left but has changed to fit the times. Step into the vast store Mood Fabrics and you’re as likely to bump into a student from the nearby Fashion Institute of Technology as you are a contestant on Project Runway, while the street-level Space for Public Art, where local artists are challenged to create something that will grab the attention of millions of passersby each day, is one of more than 90 artists’ studios in the neighborhood. At the slick Distrikt Hotel, the massive, ever-changing sculptures at the hotel entrance have made it a local landmark, and world-renowned street artist Mitchell Schorr has an urban mural in the neighborhood.
Milliner Albertus Swanepoel, whose work regularly appears on Broadway (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), television (Sex and the City), and the runways of Phillip Lim and Alexander Wang, is one of the few people left in the Garment District who still work in fashion.
“We have a great space in an old fur factory that was comprised almost entirely of counterfeit handbag sellers when we first moved in,” he says. “Today, Apparatus, the high-end lighting design company, has taken over two floors, and the rest of the building is full of architects and designers.”
Swanepoel says he loves the neighborhood because it’s convenient to Times Square, Bryant Park, and Herald Square, but “it also feels off the beaten path.” He lives just a few short blocks east in adjacent Murray Hill, where he maintains a residence on Park Avenue with a view of Morgan Library.
Got a sweet tooth? MacarOn Cafe serves the tasty sweet treats in an art-filled space adorned with Roberto Barr’s colorful, bold sculptures. “I’m also hooked on the cakes at elegant Lady M,” Swanepoel says. And what would a New York neighborhood be without a great pie shop? Lazzara’s Pizza Cafe has been satisfying locals with its square pies for more than 30 years.
For handcrafted cocktails with sky-high views, the Refinery Rooftop crowning the Refinery Hotel is one of the city’s most popular rooftop lounges. And for a taste of old-school New York with a modern twist, slip into one of the leather banquettes at Delmonico’s Kitchen, where a classic steakhouse menu includes New York Strip and Baked Alaska.
Those looking to stay fit could try a hard-core spin workout at SoulCycle, while the Shinnyo Center for Meditation & Well-Being offers an escape from the daily grind. There is also a Bikram yoga studio in the neighborhood.
Pedestrian plazas offering café-style seating that’s perfect for people-watching can be found throughout the Garment District—and sometimes there’s no better way to take it all in.
In late 2018, city officials approved a zoning change designed to ease a longstanding rule that required landlords to lease a percentage of space to the fashion industry. This is sure to pave the way for an even greater variety of business ventures in years to come. But whatever happens, the Garment District will always have its fashionable history and prime location, two key ingredients for a classic New York City neighborhood.
