New York City officials have hammered out a plan to end a decades-old zoning regulation that protects manufacturing space in Manhattan’s historic Garment District and replaces it with programs designed to keep some of the industry in Midtown.
The plan, which is expected to be announced soon, would achieve a major goal of the real-estate industry, which has long sought to end the zoning. Landlords have argued it preserves more space than declining garment-production businesses can fill.

Advocates of New York City’s fashion industry, who have battled to maintain the zoning, expressed support for much of the proposal, which was circulating behind the scenes recently. These proponents have argued that a vibrant Midtown presence remains critical to the local industry, which relies on a network of services that offer speed and efficiency. Advocates also recognize that foreign competition and other forces have caused the industry to hemorrhage tens of thousands of jobs, and they have been open to replacing the zoning with other programs.

The plan would preserve a garment-industry presence in Midtown partly by using up to 20 million dollars in city funds to acquire a building dedicated to manufacturers.

In the Garment District’s heyday, from the 1920s to the 1950s, it was one of the city’s largest employers, with hundreds of thousands of clothing manufacturing jobs.