Economic Profile 2007

Executive Summary

Employment

The table below summarizes the change in the “Fashion Industry” employment for New York City, Manhattan and Zip Code 10018, which contains the Fashion Center BID area, between 1st quarter 2006 and 1st quarter 2007.

• Throughout all three geographic areas, total “Fashion Industry” employment is down. Apparel and textile manufacturing has declined precipitously, while apparel wholesaling has remained relatively steady.


• Overall, the “Fashion Industry” employment represents only 1.9% of total private sector employment in New York City, 2.5% of the total private sector employment of Manhattan, and 25.4% of the total private sector employment in zip code 10018. This is the lowest it has been since the time we started data collection in 1994.

Retail Market Profile

• There is approximately 1.56 million square feet of retail space in the BID. The vacancy rate of 9.6% is a small increase from last year’s rate of 9.2%. Most of this vacancy continues to be along the side streets.


• Retail sales volume is estimated at approximately $725 million; however, many of the retail apparel and fabric stores do a large wholesale volume as well.


• The current resident market has approximately $217 million in retail potential, due to both population and income increases. The employee market has over $1.1 billion in retail potential, primarily (approximately 55%) in the eating and drinking category.


• Market growth will increase demand for an additional 254,850 square feet of retail space, and the untapped potential if recaptured, can support another 220,650 square feet of space.

Real Estate Profile

• Total space availability within Fashion Center BID buildings (office & loft) decreased from 2.19 million square feet to 1.97 million square feet over the past year. This caused the overall availability ratio within loft and office buildings to be 6.3%. Loft and office space in Avenue buildings totaled about 15.0 million square feet, had a vacancy rate of 7.4%, and asking rents averaged $47.53 per square foot. Office and loft space in Side Street Buildings totaled about 16.2 million square feet, had a vacancy rate of 5.3%, and average asking rents of $36.46 per square foot. Although 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 continue to command a premium along the Avenues, while the side street locations reflect the lower end of the market.
  
  

Fashion Center Retail Rent Levels

Location	Retail Rent Range
Broadway	$115 – $275
Avenue of Americas	$135 - $250
Seventh Avenue	$125 - $225
Eighth Avenue	$ 75 - $150
Side Streets	$35 - $85
Source: Robert B. Pauls LLC, CoStar Group, Inc.

Pedestrian Counts

• Total weekend volume at all locations increased significantly between 2004 and 2007. During the same period, total weekday volume declined at all locations, except at the Eighth Avenue site where volume increased about 11% between 2004 and 2007. The unexpected decline may be a reflecti of the difference in on the time the counts were performed – June 2004 vs. September 2007.
• The table below summarizes the weekday pedestrian count results for 2004 and 2007.

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