Hudson Square Rezoning

Zoning and Housing Committee

February 14, 2008

Application for North end Hudson sqaure Rezoning

Good evening. My name is Jennifer Barrett and I am the Research and Policy Associate for the New York Industrial Retention Network (NYIRN). NYIRN is a citywide economic development organization that works to promote economic diversity by supporting manufacturing and sustainable development. I thank you for the opportunity to testify.

I would like to address the potential outcome of the proposed rezoning to Hudson Square North including the negative impact to businesses in the zoning area and the secondary displacement of companies in adjacent areas. Based on our calculations, over 2,000 jobs could be lost in the rezoning area alone.

NYIRN estimates the effects of the redevelopment scheme submitted to the Department of City Planning by 627 Realty LLC and KMG Greenwich LLC at nearly 300 jobs or 248,000 SF of occupied space. This number does not include an additional 200 jobs that could exist in spaces that have been left vacant in anticipation of a rezoning.

In addition to the immediate job loss, I would like to call attention to future business displacement triggered by an MX zoning, which would allow for the conversion of several more buildings to residential use. Four large buildings in the area (435 Hudson, 120 Leroy, 617 Washington, 611 Washington) account for almost 1 million SF of active light industrial and office use, and a conversion could result in the loss of an additional 1,800 jobs. This loss of jobs will also have a dramatic effect on retail businesses that rely on the hundreds of people who work in the area and who use their services daily. Businesses outside the footprint of the rezoning will also be affected. There is a large M1 and M2 district to the south of the area, and the rezoning will inevitably cause secondary displacement of jobs there as well. In 2006, NYIRN surveyed printing businesses throughout Hudson Square and recorded at least 20 printing businesses, employing over 500 workers.

Finally, rezoning of the Hudson Square area must be considered in the context of the dramatic loss of industrial space and the displacement of businesses in Manhattan and citywide. Since 2001, 6.9 million SF or 11% of Manhattan’s industrial space has been rezoned, and this number does not account for BSA variances that have resulted in a significant loss of industrial space on a site-by-site basis. In the Hudson Square rezoning area alone BSA variances have already allowed the development of more than 600 residential units on M-zoned parcels.

The businesses in Hudson Square and the surrounding blocks are innovative and dynamic, and many are looking for opportunities to grow; they also provide jobs to a diverse population with salaries that exceed service industry jobs.¹ However, in order to continue to operate, they are dependent on proximity to clients in Manhattan, the concentration of media-related businesses in the area, and some measure of real estate stability.

We urge the Community Board, elected officials and the Department of City Planning to think about the dramatic, cumulative effect of a rezoning of the northern portion of Hudson Square both immediately and in the future. To rezone this area would be to threaten the economic viability and stability of businesses that are essential to New York’s economy and its character. Thank you for your attention to these issues.

Attached: Businesses in the Hudson Square Rezoning area (2008)

¹ The average annual salary in the printing industry is $56,000 (QCEW dataset, NY State DOL 2006).