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]

The city is mulling a $5.3 billion proposal to extend the No. 7 subway line into Secaucus after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie axed a planned Hudson River commuter rail tunnel that would have ended on West 34th Street in Manhattan. While the No. 7 extension plan wouldn’t be the direct New Jersey-to-New York City commute that some transportation advocates were hoping for (commuters would still have to transfer in Secaucus to NJ Transit lines) it would be about half as costly as the original plan, which Christie killed due to potential cost overruns. [more]

The 96th Street station (source: My Upper West)

While the new 96th Street subway station was unveiled in April, small construction updates are still being made to the 1-2-3-line stop that sits at Broadway, according to My Upper West blog. Photos from the construction site show considerable detritus still littering the stairwells, as the external walkways are still incomplete. While the station is open — and the planned steel flower decorations hang from the ceiling — it’s not immediately clear when the last touches will be complete. [My Upper West]

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Jason Pennington of Ripco Real Estate

From the February issue: Mayor Bloomberg may have declared war on high-calorie, sodium-filled diets, but New York City’s landlords seem to think fast-food joints are good for their health — their fiscal health, that is. Fast-food restaurants are under construction all over the city, gearing up to serve greasy burgers, fried chicken and burritos, as well as accompanying sugary sodas, which the Bloomberg administration portrayed as globs of fat in a glass in a recent public awareness campaign. In this tough retail climate, food and beverage leases in the city are rising faster than any other category. While they generally make up the largest portion of leases on The Real Deal‘s monthly Deal Sheet, last month the category saw 19 deals for over 70,000 square feet of retail space. That’s more than double the second most active category: fashion. And the greasy diet that landlords have signed up for is, in many cases, long-term, with 10- and 15-year leases.  [more]

The Subway restaurant as it was hoisted up the building (Source: the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey)

The construction may still have years to go, but the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero already has its first operational restaurant. A Subway franchise shop is being installed on the as-of-right-now top floor of the gradually growing tower, according to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. The restaurant was lifted 160 feet into the air by a crane in order to serve iron workers currently constructing the tower. The restaurant will rise with the building as it grows in number of floors, the Staten Island Advance reported. The Subway restaurant is temporary and intended for use only by the iron workers, a Port Authority representative told The Real Deal. Once the steel work is complete, the Subway will be dismantled.  [SI Advance]

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A subsidiary of China’s largest contracting company has just inked a deal to complete a $100 million Manhattan subway ventilation project, according to China Daily. The project is the third U.S. infrastructure assignment that the company has been assigned this year. China State Construction Engineering has been aggressively pursuing the U.S. infrastructure market, according to Li Zhirui, an analyst with First Capital Securities, and is finding lucrative development opportunities. “The new project… signals China State Construction’s ambition to tap the American construction market,” Zhirui said.

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]

Thirty percent of top national retailers expanded their presence in New York City over the last year, according to an annual report released by the Center for an Urban Future today. The report, which tracks 277 retailers with two or more stores in the city, looks at data from July 2008 through July 2009. In addition to the 30 percent of retailers that expanded despite the poor economy, 30 percent of the stores listed maintained the same number of locations they had in the five boroughs the year before.

TRD [more]