New York Fashion Week is being booted from Lincoln Center.  The eviction, the result of a new agreement filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, is effective after the Fall 2015 fashion show in February.  The agreement was signed Dec. 12 by representatives of the city, Lincoln Center and park advocates who sued to stop Damrosch Park from being used by private vendors.  The lawsuit was brought after the Bloomberg administration allowed Lincoln Center to chop down trees and rip out lush azalea beds to make room for Fashion Week and other vendors who erected semi-permanent tents on the 2.4 acre parcel.  Lincoln Center earned millions of dollars in rental fees by leasing out the space for the past five years.  The Bibhu Mohapatra Spring/Summer 2015 fashion show at the Pavilion at Lincoln Center in September 2014 during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.  The Clover Canyon Spring/Summer 2015 fashion show at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.  Fashion Week organizers are looking at new spaces in Soho and Tribeca.  NYC Park Advocates and the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development Inc. argued that the leases were illegal because the city was effectively giving away dedicated park land without getting state legislative approval.  Under the new pact, Fashion Week and other vendors cannot return to Damrosch Park and Lincoln Center will restore the space, replacing the 56 trees that it leveled and other perennial plants.  Fashion Week organizers knew that their lease was up in February and have been looking for alternative space in the SoHo/Tribeca area where major fashion designers have set up shop in recent years.  Parks Advocate leader Geoffrey Croft said Lincoln Center used Damrosch Park “like an ATM machine.”  “It was a playground for the wealthy, a Bloomberg era boondoggle,” he said.  Under the agreement reached with the de Blasio administration, Lincoln Center has to rip down the tents and restore the park but it can still rent space for a limited number of events, providing they first notify the Community Board and nonprofit advocates who brought the lawsuit.  The new events scheduled for the park have to be open to the public.  The restored area will include the roof of a parking garage which had provided revenue to Lincoln Center since it opened decades ago.
The event will be held elsewhere following a deal reached between the city, parks advocates and Lincoln Center.