The rumor mill is buzzing today with the news that legendary Midwood pizzeria Di Fara, recently recovered from a nasty run-in with the DOH, might be expanding to New Jersey. Could it be true? more ›

Last week, beloved Prospect Heights breakfast institution Tom's Restaurant announced plans to expand for the first time in their 75-year history, after signing a deal to open a second location on the Coney Island boardwalk. Now, more details are emerging about what the space will look like and who Tom's Zamperla-sanctioned neighbors will be. more ›

Get ready for more McDonald's to either love, hate or simply tolerate. Though the Center for an Urban Future recently found chain growth in the city to be slowing, the golden arches are reportedly preparing to buck the trend. According to a report in the Post the house that Ronald built is hoping to "add at least 10 burger joints to Manhattan within the next three to five years." more ›

Manhattan's K-Town is busting out of its britches, with a less-than-zero percent vacancy rate on 32nd street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue forcing many restaurants to set up shop outside of the coveted main drag, the Wall Street Journal reports. more ›

Only a few short months into its existence, suave-looking Meatpacking District coffee shop Kava Cafe is expanding, nearly doubling in size with the addition of a 1,000 square-foot backyard garden and a new liquor license that's sure to attract booze-loving tourist crowds from the nearby High Line. more ›

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously yesterday to approve the expansion of the Greenwich Village Historic District by 11 blocks. It was the district's biggest expansion in 41 years, and makes Greenwich Village the city's oldest and largest historic district. The expanded area is bounded roughly on the east and west by Sixth and Seventh avenues, and by West Fourth and Bedford streets on the north and south. more ›

As expected, NYU's neighbors did not seem very receptive to the university's plan for a 38-story tower right on Bleecker Street, near the Silver Towers during a standing room-only presentation. Residents gave measured, sometimes subjective opinions: "The biggest concern, I think, is the overbuilding in our area. We've seen the loss of greenspace, we're concerned about the height of these buildings" and "NYU is the bully in the neighborhood, NYU disregards everything the neighbors say at these meetings." more ›

Ahead of NYU's presentation to Greenwich Village neighbors tonight, the Wall Street Journal got a hold of renderings of the 38-story tower that the school wants to build on Bleecker Street. The building, which would include housing for faculty and a hotel for visiting faculty, is part of NYU's ambitious expansion plan, NYU 2031, to increase its physical size by 40%. But critics say it'll interfere with I.M. Pei's landmarked Silver Towers. more ›

Is McCarren Park getting an expansion? An advocacy group is currently attempting to convince the city that it should, by way of closing part of Union Avenue (between Driggs and Bayard). According to the Brooklyn Paper the group would ideally like to see that stretch of street closed off to cars permanently. more ›

Shake Shack, Danny Meyer's insanely popular upscale burger joint, is expanding, with new Manhattan locations planned for the theater district and the Upper East Side (as well as the previously announced Nolita outpost, plus Miami Beach and Kuwait). In all, five new Shake Shacks will open in 2010, and Meyer's not stopping there. In an adulatory Times profile, he says "in five years we could have 20, mostly up and down the East Coast." And why not? These shacks make bank. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg really likes his space! The NY Times reports that the billionaire who lives in a 5-story "flawless Beaux-Arts limestone with 7,500 square feet of exquisite living space" at 17 East 79th Street, has been "been buying up space in the building next door, knocking down walls and combining two entire floors along the way." more ›

After about a decade of delays, Kaufman Astoria Studios broke ground today on a $22 million expansion. The new building will be located diagonally across the street from Kaufman Astoria’s current building and will house an 18,000-square-foot sound stage, as well as an additional 22,000 square feet of offices, dressing rooms and carpentry shops, Crain's reports. Kaufman Astoria president Hal Rosenbluth had originally announced plans to expand in 1999, but put the project on hold after the 9/11 attacks. The studio is moving forward now with a $5 million grant from the city, at a time when the city is swarming with TV and movie productions, in part due to a recent increase in New York State tax breaks. Currently filming at Kaufman Astoria—which opened in 1920 as Famous Player Lasky—are Sesame Street, Life on Mars and Showtime’s new series, Nurse Jackie. more ›

A group of residents in a massive building at 3333 Broadway (at 135th Street) are filing a class action lawsuit against the owner of the building, which until 2005 was in the state’s Mitchell-Lama program for moderate-income housing but is now charging market-rate rents. The residents say the owner had not properly notified them of the change to market-rate housing, and they say they're being systematically harassed to move out so higher-paying tenants can move in. more ›

Vendors at the Hunts Point wholesale produce market, located on 125 acres of city-owned land in the South Bronx, have said they will consider leaving the site for points “north or west” because the city is not cooperating with their expansion needs. According to the AP, the market supplies 3.3 billion pounds of fruits and vegetables a year, mostly to restaurants and small grocers. more ›

Preservationists and Greenwich Village community members are reporting that their efforts to stop NYU from demolishing the historic Provincetown Playhouse have paid off – to a certain extent. Andrew Berman, Executive Director of The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, tells us that NYU plans to preserve the facade and structural walls of the theater, but he says many issues remain unaddressed. more ›

The historic – but not landmarked – Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village could be the next building to make way for NYU’s ongoing expansion, which will devour six million square feet of space in New York in the next 25 years, if all goes according to plan. The theater is widely regarded as the birthplace of 'Off Broadway.' more ›

Governor Spitzer is facing opposition in his attempt to snuff out any Javits Center expansion by selling land surrounding the center to fill budget gaps. The administration still plans to renovate the convention center, but it will result in far less space than what was originally envisioned for the expansion, which would have cost between $1.8 billion and $3 billion. Senator Charles Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn oppose the land sale, which would effectively eliminate the possibility of any future expansion. more ›