For the third year in a row, Dunkin’ Donuts has come out on top amongst national retailers in New York City, with 466 store locations across the five boroughs, up from 429 last year and 341 in 2008, according to a new ranking from the Center for an Urban Future, out today. Subway came in second with 389 stores and Starbucks came in a distant third, with 256. (Starbucks still beats Dunkin’ Donuts in Manhattan, though, with 194 to its 115 stores). On the whole, the survey found that national retailers have increased their presence in New York City this year in spite of still-sluggish consumer spending; they have an average of 4.1 percent more stores here now than they did a year ago. For more survey results and rankings of the top national retailers in New York City by borough and zip code, click here. TRD [more]

A Manhattan-based think tank has pitched a plan for the development of
a mile of empty space under the Metro North tracks in Harlem from 111th
to 133rd streets along Park Avenue, in an effort to grow the retail
market in the neighborhood. The Center for an Urban Future has entitled
the plan, which is targeting the development of small businesses and
food retailers in particular, “A High Line for Harlem.” The report
suggests that the project would not only attract tourists, but would
also serve the community with neighborhood staples, like supermarkets.
In the report, the center names support from the city’s Economic
Development Corporation, which controls the site, as key to the plan’s
success. TRD

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The state governor and legislature should scrap their plans to
include video slot machines at the Aqueduct race track, according to
Hugh O’Neill, president of Appleseed, an economic development
consulting company. The city ought to be considering a better use for
those 192 acres of public land near JFK Airport, O’Neill argued in a
commentary he wrote for the Center for an Urban Future, a
Manhattan-based think tank. Though the state has been counting on an
up-front licensing fee of $300 million from the winning bidder on the
project, O’Neill points out, nobody ever studied the economic benefits
of using video slot machines to liven up a dying race track. The state
plan calls for the creation of 4,500 video lottery terminals at the
Queens racetrack. O’Neill says that racing has been a declining
business at Aqueduct for a long time, with falling attendance rates and
a reduction in the number of racing days, from 162 to 117, in the last
two decades. He suggested that state officials look into the
possibility of redeveloping Aqueduct into an area for new office
buildings, hotels or a conference center, capitalizing on the millions
of square feet of space near a major airport, as other cities have
done. TRD

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In the wake of the December State Supreme Court judgment denying Columbia University the right to use eminent domain in its $6.3 billion expansion project, the Center for an Urban Future is urging policymakers to take a more aggressive look at how the proposed project could aid the financial landscape of the community. The public research group released a policy brief today criticizing city, state, and school officials for their handling of the Columbia University Manhattanville expansion plan. The report argues that the Columbia proposal did not adequately address the relative economic benefits that the expansion would bring to the Manhattanville community. According to the policy institute, the school should look to other urban academic centers, such as Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburg, when proposing its future expansion. “Many new-campus plans nationally make it possible for businesses that are research partners of the university to operate cheek-by-jowl with new academic space,” a statement from the institute said. “The university’s own investments could prompt private companies based on advanced science and engineering technologies to set up shop nearby.” TRD
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While New York City has strong science and technology research centers, it shows poor performance in cultivating start-up businesses and economic growth, according to a new report from the Center for an Urban Future. The high cost of real estate and scant available laboratory space are cited as the primary reasons that research centers have difficulty producing new institutions and tech ventures. The report, which includes its inaugural “Innovation Index,” charts how New York City measures up to other metropolitan regions in its science and technology facilities. According to the report, New York City has just six companies on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 List, while San Francisco has 88, Los Angeles has 50 and Washington, D.C. is home to 47.

More than four dozen national chain retailers have taken advantage of low rents to expand in New York City over the past year, according to Bloomberg’s Patricia Wu. Some of the stores with the most significant expansion plans include Dunkin’ Donuts, Subway, McDonald’s and Starbucks. Jonathan Bowles of the Center for an Urban Future said those stores have had deep enough pockets to survive the recession so far and see it as an opportunity to expand. But Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said he is not seeing this kind of retail expansion outside of New York. [more]

Suburban shoppers with immigrant parents or grandparents are boosting the city’s economy by visiting ethnic retail centers at a growing rate, according to a report published by the Center for an Urban Future, a think tank. Downtown Flushing, Washington Heights, Richmond Hill, Brighton Beach, Midwood and Astoria are all popular ethnic centers. While the number of businesses citywide increased 9.6 percent from 1994 to 2004, the report highlighted several areas that grew faster: Flushing, up 54.6 percent; Sunset Park, up 47.3 percent; Sheepshead Bay-Brighton Beach, up 33.7 percent; and Washington Heights, up 17.8 percent. [more]