Employment

• New York City “Fashion Industry” employment is currently (4th Qtr 2004) 68,241. This is a slight increase of .4% from the 4th quarter 2003. The manufacturing portion of the “Fashion Industry” is currently 37,312, almost 256 fewer employees compared to the 4th quarter 2003 total of 37,568.
• Manhattan “Fashion Industry” employment in the 4th quarter 2004 was 49,531, a decline of 1.0% from the 4th quarter 2003. The manufacturing portion of the “Fashion Industry” represented 43.2%, a decline of 1.5% from the 4th quarter 2003. The wholesaling sector increased slightly from 27,666 to 28,131 between the 4th quarter of 2003 and 2004.
• Fashion Industry” employment within the Fashion Center BID (i.e. Zip Code 10018) is estimated to be 25,384, significantly lower than prior years, and slightly lower than the 4th quarter 2003 figure of 25,226. Fashion-related manufacturing employment (Apparel & Textile Manufacturing) has declined by 1.9% in the last year and 32.2% since 2000.
• As of the 4th quarter 2004, the “Fashion Industry” currently represents 28.9% of the total private sector employment in the BID, its lowest level ever. The textile and apparel manufacturing sectors only represents 12.7% of BID employment.

Retail Market Profile

• There is approximately 1.56 million square feet of retail space in the BID. The vacancy rate of 8.8% is a decline from last year’s rate of 10.3%. Most of this vacancy is along the side streets.
• Retail sales volume is estimated between $650 million and $680 million; however, many of the retail apparel and fabric stores do a large wholesale volume as well.
• The current resident market has approximately $188.2 million in retail potential, due to both population and income increases. The employee market has over $988 million in retail potential, primarily in the eating and drinking category.
• Market growth will increase demand for an additional 207,000 square feet of retail space, and the untapped potential if recaptured, can support another 186,600 square feet of space.

Real Estate Profile

• Total space availability decreased from 3.32 million square feet to 2.69 million square feet over the past year. This caused the overall availability ratio to decrease to 12.8% from 11.8%. The decrease in availability was concentrated within loft type buildings, which are becoming a smaller proportion of the Fashion BID buildings as they are converted to office space. Available space in Avenue buildings went from 1,979,000 square feet to 1,956,823 square feet, and Side Street buildings, went from 1,339,100 square feet to 734,452 square feet. This availability rate changed from 12.7% to 12.2% in Avenue Buildings, and from 14.0% to 9.5% in Side Street Buildings.
• Office rents have increased slightly. Side Street Buildings have an average asking price of $23.58 per square foot, although some are asking upwards of $35.00 per square foot. This is comparable to last year’s survey. The Avenue Buildings have an average asking price of between $33.03 per square foot, although some are asking upwards of $43.00 per square foot. Asking rents don’t always reflect the underlying status of the market where transactions have incorporated a variety of concessions designed to offset rental prices. These concessions are now virtually non-existent.
• Retail rents are still quite high and there are few spaces available, mostly along the side streets. Broadway retail space asking rents range from $125 - $200 per square foot; Seventh Avenue from $150 - $200 per square foot; Sixth Avenue from $130 - $170 per square foot; Eighth Avenue from $95 - $125 per square foot and the side street locations from $40 - $85 per square foot. According to our latest inventory, the retail vacancy rate is 8.8%, down from 10.3% in 2004.

Economic Impact

• The value added from the New York City apparel and textile manufacturing totaled $2.88 billion, according to the Economic Census 2002. This is a decline of 40.6% from the 1997 Economic Census figure of $4.85 billion in uninflated terms. With inflation, this is a decline of 47.2%. This reflects the declining importance of the manufacturing portion of the Fashion Industry as it relates to the NYC economy.
• Total wholesale apparel sales in New York City was reported to be $37.5 billion in 2002. This figure was an 8.6% decline from the 1997 figure in uninflated terms, or 18.6% when inflation is factored in. In Manhattan, total wholesale apparel sales was $33.5 billion in 2002, a decrease from the 1997 figure of $37.9 billion. Similar to the Fashion Industry manufacturing sectors, the decline in wholesale apparel sales represents a decrease in the overall importance of the Fashion Industry as it relates to the New York City economy.

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