Mark Birnbaum & The Meatpacking District

Mark Birnbaum, Eugene Remm and others have made a radical change of the Meatpacking District, which not so many years ago was a less than desirable place.  Today the world has changed.  Some perceptions on the meatpacking district:

• “Not so long ago, the trendiest thing worn in the Meatpacking District was a blood-stained apron… Despite the haute onslaught, the neighborhood has managed to retain its blue-collar edge, thanks to the many wholesale meat companies which still operate out of the warehouses between Gansevoort and West 15 Streets.” Jon Steinberg

• “The Meatpacking District is now as dead as the cattle carcasses that once poured blood onto its cobblestone streets. The last independent meat supplier in a neighborhood that once has more than 200 has moved into a city-controlled co-op in the neighborhood, the last redoubt of steaks and chops in the area.” Matt Chaban

• “The change in just 15 to 20 years [in New York’s Meatpacking District] is so dramatic.” Scott Schuman

• “So it is with the meatpacking district, the latest stretch of Manhattan real estate to experience the urban rite of passage from dicey to desirable. As meat wholesalers relocate to the outer boroughs, retailers are converting the processing plants into chic boutiques.” Jen Renzi

• “Manhattan’s meatpacking district is now known more for its trendy clubs and restaurants instead of its high quality sirloins.” Erin McCarthy

• “When Jeffrey Kalinsky opened his 12,000-square-foot shop, a mini department store carrying exclusive brands, at 449 West 14th Street in 1999, he accelerated a fashion domino effect that soon turned the Meatpacking District into a trendy see-and-be-seen neighborhood studded with designer boutiques and late-night restaurants.” Adam Pincus  

• “In 1900, 250 slaughterhouses and packing plants filled the district; by the 1930s, those houses produced the nation’s third-largest volume of dressed meats… Few meatpacking companies still operate in the district. Boutiques and bars are more common than rump roasts these days, and the pressure to convert old market blocks into apartment buildings is severe.” Meatpacking District Improvement Association (MPIA)

• “The Meatpacking District’s longtime meat and flesh trades have both been fading fast as the area gentrifies into a trendy shopping and clubbing district.” Garth Johnston

• “Beginning in the early 1990s, the Meatpacking District went through a formidable transformation; today, high-end clothing stores and restaurants together with trendy bars cater to young professionals and ‘hipsters.’” New York Film Academy

• “Foodies, fashionistas and folks who love the nightlife flock to New York’s fiercely trendy Meatpacking District. Somber buildings once housed the city’s meat-processing industry in this west side neighborhood beside the Hudson River. These days, the vibe is far more glamorous.” Denise Schoonhoven

All of NY should be thankful to Mark Birnbaum and Eugene Remm and others for making this city much better.

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