Condo Towers Force Out Remaining Industries in NYC

"'The Bloomberg administration had a strategic plan from the beginning - to rezone or redevelop manufacturing areas to promote, originally, office space,' said Pratt Center Executive Director Brad Lander.

'But it's worked out to be almost entirely residential development,' he said. 'There's a real concern it's gone too far.'

More than 20 Bloomberg rezonings have converted manufacturing land into residential or commercial uses, transforming neighborhoods like Red Hook, Long Island City and the South Bronx into trendy residential addresses.

Seth Pinsky, head of the city Economic Development Corp., said many of the rezonings, in Brooklyn's Greenpoint and Williamsburg for example, sought better uses for run-down, largely vacant manufacturing sites.

The dwindling stock of manufacturing space has made already pricey land more expensive, Lander said. Many factories grandfathered in after rezonings soon seek cheaper options elsewhere, such as New Jersey - leading to the loss of well-paying blue-collar jobs."