Design Trust for Public Space, Making Midtown
Kei Hayashi was the economic expertise behind Making Midtown, a blueprint for rethinking the Garment District in Midtown Manhattan, sponsored by Design Trust for Public Space, a highly regarded non-profit that considers the built environment in New York City, and which has sponsored projects such as the High Line and the Taxi of Tomorrow in their nascent stages. The Making Midtown project brought together key stakeholders in a community planning process – engaging developers, current building owners, manufacturers, and designers, as well as City officials.
Kei was responsible for modeling all of the developer returns and potential impacts on the City from various rezoning scenarios. Her industrial development experience played a key role in shaping the recommendations, which included the creation of new public and private programming to assist garment manufacturers that were too small to own their own space in the District.
