New York’s flower district, more than 100 years old and a home mostly to wholesalers, used to thrive like a jungle along Sixth Avenue. Now it is concentrated in just one block of West 28th Street.
Long said to be on its way out because of a changing industry and continually rising rents in Chelsea, its surrounding neighborhood, the district could be saved, at least symbolically, from the very thing threatening its existence: gentrification.
In between the shops offering garden accessories and roses or ferns in bulk, several trendy hotels have recently opened on the block. Instead of pushing out the local shops, they are relying on the uniqueness of the flower district to lure visitors.
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