New York State Department of Labor Labor Statistics

New York City Region, Expansions and Contractions

Expansions and Openings

On the playing field of local search, giants like Yelp, Citysearch, and Yahoo Local battle each other for market share. Meanwhile, a software startup that manages the online listings of businesses large and small across nearly 50 Web properties, Yext is unknown to consumers. The company is on a tear, having more than tripled its business in 2012. The firm will finish 2013 with around 300 employees, up from 175 right now, its CEO projected. And its customer list is growing even faster. Yext finished 2012 servicing 100,000 businesses, up from 30,000 the prior year, and expects its subscriber rolls to top 1 million by the end of 2015.

The Bronx is saying hello to Burlington Coat Factory. The New Jersey-based chain has signed on to open an outpost at 2543 Webster Ave., between East Fordham Road and 193rd Street, it confirmed following the announcement that Cookie's Kids Department Store in the same location would close in June. Burlington, which currently operates six stores in New York City, plans to open the Webster Avenue outpost-its second in the borough-in the fall. The 500-store chain's entry into the Fordham neighborhood comes on the heels of the city's new push to revitalize the Bronx. Last week, New York City's Economic Development Corp. said it would be transforming the 1.5-mile stretch of Webster Avenue between Fordham Road and Gun Hill Road into a new cultural and shopping thoroughfare. The area, which is home to more than 100,000 residents and 7,000 Fordham University students, was rezoned in 2011 to allow for at least 430,000 square feet of new commercial development and 950 new residential units.

Downtown Brooklyn has lured a new tenant. New York University is launching an interdisciplinary center to train budding game makers in the design, coding and artistic theory of the rapidly growing game industry. The center-known as the Media and Games Network is slated to open in the fall in a 40,000-square-foot space in an office building at 2 Metrotech Center. It will house programs ranging from a master's degree in game design to a doctorate in educational communications and technology.

An advertising agency has signed a major new lease in the Garment District, helping the area sew up a new image as a hub for hip technology. New York-based Interpublic Group of Cos. has leased 1400 Broadway, once occupied by dozens of small showrooms. As fashion manufacturing has faded in the city, landlords are trying to rebrand-a move that's met with resistance from the garment industry. But thanks in part to a spillover of companies from expensive neighborhoods to the south, such as Chelsea and Flatiron, more than 100 digital agencies and tech start ups are now based in the Garment District.

A massive rooftop greenhouse than would produce more than 500 tons of fresh vegetables and herbs a year may be soon coming to Jamaica. The new facility, planned by Gotham Greens, which is already operating a 15,000 square feet rooftop greenhouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, will be one of the largest of its kind in the country. Gotham Greens, which was awarded $902,000 from the Regional Economic Development Councils for the project last year, is planning to build a 55,000-square feet high-tech facility in Jamaica. The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, a local development organization,  is currently trying to find a building for the greenhouse. The greenhouse will produce more than 500 tons of fresh pesticide-free vegetables for residents of Queens and other boroughs and it will create 40 permanent and 50 construction jobs, according to the Regional Councils. The greenhouse would also allow plants to grow hydroponically, in sand or liquid but without soil.

The much-anticipated Flushing Commons project will begin construction this fall, splitting the effort into two phases to minimize disruption to the community. The mixed-use development will include commercial, residential and community space in downtown Flushing. Costing $850 million, the 5.5-acre structure will be built at Flushing's Municipal Lot 1, between Union Street and 138th Street, as well as between 37th and 39th Avenues. Joint developers The Rockefeller Development Corporation of Manhattan and Flushing-based TDC Development and Construction Corporation agreed to build an underground garage to alleviate concerns about parking and avoid the need to move the public parking offsite.  Phase One will include the building of about 160 residential units, around 350,000 square feet of commercial, one-and-a-half acres of open space with a fountain plaza and amphitheater and a new 62,000 square foot YMCA, which will contain two pools, a full-size gymnasium and an indoor running track. Phase Two will include about 450 residential units, around 150,000 square feet of commercial space and 15,000 square feet of additional community space.  The NYC Economic Development Corp estimates that the Flushing Commons development will create more than 2,600 construction jobs and 1,900 permanent jobs.

T.J. Maxx has come to Fordham Plaza. The 30,503 square foot designer department store opened on Sunday, March 24. The chain is one of the nation's largest discount retailers, with about 1,000 stores in operation, and offers fashion and accessories for the family and the home, jewelry, and beauty and pet accessories.

Three-year-old juicing company Juice Press is adding more retail locations. The rapidly growing chain, which sells cold-pressed juices, smoothies and dehydrated snacks, opened its seventh location. The company has three more outposts under construction and is negotiating for sites for three more. By the end of the year, the company should have at least 13 locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Another Manhattan-based juicer, Organic Avenue, recently announced it plans to open an additional four locations this year, bringing its local count to 12. The company expects to eventually have 20 stores in the New York area.

Urban Outfitters is in major expansion mode in New York City, as the retailer just leased 21,000 square feet of space in lower Manhattan, right next to the new Fulton Transit Hub. News of the latest outpost comes a day after the trendy Philadelphia-based company announced that it was negotiating a deal for space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where its sister retailer, Anthropologie, is also eyeing another storefront. According to the industry sources, Urban Outfitters has also leased space at 180 Broadway and is said to be close to signing a deal for 61,000 square feet at 3 Herald Square.

Business software giant Infor had several reasons for moving its headquarters to the Flatiron district from suburban Atlanta last year, not the least of them being that New York City is a nice place to visit. Built from acquisitions of more than 60 companies serving sectors ranging from manufacturing to hospitality, Infor wanted to be where its customers were likely to travel for business or pleasure, so there would be more chances of meeting with them face to face. And this strategy proved successful. Since October, when it moved into its new headquarters, Infor has hired close to 80 designers, which is more than it had counted on for its entire first year. The company is now negotiating for additional space as it looks to add another 40 designers.

Amazon.com Inc. is looking to expand. The online retailer is looking for 300,000 to 500,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan, which would be a big jump from the approximately 100,000 square feet Amazon currently occupies. The search is said to be at early stages, but if it leads to a lease on the upper end of its range, it would be one of the largest expansions by a company in the city in years. A 500,000-square-foot space typically fits 2,000 to 3,000 workers.

Fairway Market is expanding in Chelsea. The grocer has signed a 20-year lease for 26,000 square feet at 766 Sixth Ave., between West 25th and West 26th streets. When the store opens in the summer 2013, Fairway will join the growing crop of grocers already in the area, including Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, both of which have outposts nearby. Chelsea will be Fairway's 12th store, and fifth in Manhattan alone. The local chain made headlines when its flagship on the Red Hook, Brooklyn, waterfront was severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy, but the outpost reopened on schedule March 1^st.

Canada-based TD Bank is about to launch a major Big Apple expansion plan that will increase its presence here by 50 percent over the next three years. The bank, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank, with 97 branches in 2012 throughout the five boroughs, could grow to become the No. 2 New York City bank, by branches, after its move. While some banks are pulling back on the number of branches here, TD Bank wants to grow and compete with heavy hitters like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and HSBC.  TD's 100th branch opened to much fanfare on Jan. 26.

At least eight hotels are scheduled to open between February and June of 2013:  

• The Jade Hotel: February 2013 52 W 13^th Street
• Holiday Inn Express Herald Square: February 2013 60 W 36^th Street
• Hyatt Place Midtown South: March 2013 52 W 36^th Street
• Fairfield Inn & Suite: March 2013 325 W 33^rd Street
• Holiday Inn Express NYC West Side: April 2013 538 W 48^th Street
• Holiday Inn NYC Lower East Side: April 2013 150 Delancey Street
• The Refinery NYC: May 2013 63 W 38^th Street
• Hyatt Union Square: May 2013 134 Fourth Avenue

Bronx borough officials and developer Equity One announced an effort to recruit potential construction-related employees for a forthcoming commercial development, Broadway Plaza in Kingsbridge. Groundbreaking is planned for spring 2013 and once completed in 2014 and fully occupied with tenants, the developer estimates Broadway Plaza will create 300 new jobs, including full-time and part-time hires.

A proposed expansion of Chelsea Market won approved from the City Council clearing the last hurdle for the project.  Jamestown Properties, the owner of Chelsea Market, projects the expansion of Chelsea Market will provide an important economic boost to New York City, creating more than 1,200 long-term jobs and 600 construction jobs.  Chelsea and the meatpacking district, the neighborhoods that Chelsea Market straddles, have become popular areas in the city for office tenants. The roughly 300,000 square feet of office space that Jamestown wants to add on top of sections of its multi-building property is designed to cater to that soaring demand.

Facebook continued its push into the city by announcing that it will move part of its design team here to be closer to Madison Avenue. It will be Facebook's first design unit outside its Silicon Valley headquarters, and the company said it would recruit from the city's pool of design talent to add to its staff of 150 people already here. This is not the first expansion the company has made into the city. In December 2011, Facebook chose New York as its first city outside Menlo Park, Calif., to locate an engineering hub.

LinkedIn, the popular social network for business professionals, is expanding its office in the Empire State Building. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has signed a 10-year lease for 40,780 square feet of space at the tower, bringing the firm's total footprint in the building to 73,000 square feet. LinkedIn moved into the building's 25th floor last year, establishing a corporate office mainly for sales staff.

Choice Hotels International, the company behind brands like Econo Lodge, Clarion and Comfort Inn, broke ground Thursday for two Manhattan hostelries. The activity comes less than 24 hours after the Silver Spring, Md.-based outfit began work on a hotel just north of the city in White Plains. All three hotels will be under a brand aimed at business travelers, Cambria Suites. It will be Choice's highest-end option to date, according to Steve Joyce, the company's chief executive. The Times Square location will be the first to open in the city, in the winter of 2014. The Chelsea hotel is scheduled to open in the following quarter.

Aussie pie maker Pie Face is baking up a storm in New York City, as the company recently signed on for its sixth store here. Pie Face also signed on for a commissary kitchen in Sunset Park, Brooklyn where it creates its tasty wares. Pie Face is still aggressively looking for more sites to open in 2013, according to Robert Bonicoro of CBRE Group Inc., the exclusive broker for the maker of sweet and savory pies.

Burger madness will be ratcheting up early next year when Fatburger muscles into the Big Apple for the first time. The Beverly Hills, Calif.-based chain, which has been around for 60 years and has 150 eateries across the globe, signed a franchise agreement with The Riese Organization, one of the largest restaurant management companies in New York. Most of the U.S.-based Fatburgers are in Western states, though Atlantic City got the first East Coast eatery five years ago. Riese, which operates more than 75 fast-food restaurants, including Pizza Hut, KFC, T.G.I Friday's and Tim Hortons, plans to roll out 10 Fatburgers in Manhattan. The first one will debut at 507 Third Ave. next spring.

Look out Subway: Jersey Mike's is coming to town. In addition to recently signing a lease for its first Manhattan location at 80 Maiden Lane, the Westfield, N.J.-based sandwich seller is in negotiation for two additional outposts here, according to Henry Gallo, area director, and franchisee for the chain store. In total, Jersey Mike's, a 600-unit franchise chain, plans to open more than 25 shops, ranging in size from 1,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet in New York City next year.

Facebook has some new designs on New York City. Mark Zuckerberg’s social network continued its push into the city yesterday by announcing that it will move part of its design team here to be closer to Madison Avenue. It will be Facebook’s first design unit outside its Silicon Valley headquarters, and the company said it would recruit from the city’s pool of design talent to add to its staff of 150 people already here. The company did not say how many designers it would hire.

Harlem became the first neighborhood in the city to boast a LEED-Gold-certified restaurant—an Applebee's, which opened on East 117th Street.

A long awaited project by Two Trees Management Co. started the city's official seven-month review process on Monday. It plans to build a 32-story tower designed by Enrique Norten with 50,000 square feet of new, cultural and community space, along with a new public plaza. The new cultural space will be shared by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Public Library and 651 Arts, which focuses on fostering work from the African Diaspora.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the Gotham Organization and DT Salazar, Inc will develop 600 units of housing, 300 of which will be affordable, as well as new cultural, community and commercial space on a site bounded by Fulton Street, Rockwell Place and Ashland Place. When completed, the approximately 515,000-square-foot building will also contain 20,000 square feet of cultural and related office space.

Construction has started on Brooklyn's first Whole Foods and the store is expected to open in summer 2013, a store spokesman confirmed of work on the future Whole Foods at Third Street and Third Avenue in Gowanus. The 52,000 square-foot store is slated to open in the summer of 2013, depending on how winter weather affects the pace of construction. Building the Whole Foods store is expected to create roughly 300 temporary construction jobs, and the store plans to hire 350 employees when it opens. The store is expected to have a 20,000 square-foot rooftop greenhouse for growing produce.

After spending the past two decades scouring Manhattan for the right location and the right deal, Nordstrom, the upscale department store, has finally found a home. The chain signed a binding agreement to open New York City’s first new full-scale department store, a 7-story, 300,000-square-foot behemoth in the base of a planned skyscraper on the north side of 57th Street, east of Broadway. But if the company spent two decades looking for the right site, it will have to wait until 2018 to move in.

Online auction giant eBay is the latest tech giant to expand in New York. The company announced that it would launch a Technology Center of Excellence in the Flatiron district this fall. The company said the center would expand to more than 200 people over the next couple of years.  eBay is following in the footsteps of Facebook. The social media giant announced last year it would establish a major engineering center in Manhattan, and has been busy staffing it. Facebook, in turn, followed Google, whose meatpacking district offices are the search giant's largest operations center outside of California.

Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation will invest $46 million to build a 222,000-square-foot Green Manufacturing Center at the 300-acre Industrial park on the Brooklyn waterfront, initially creating more than 300 jobs and an estimated 400 construction jobs.  This major new investment will transform three former Navy ship building machine shops into a 220,000 square foot, multi-tenanted, LEED-certified Green Manufacturing Center.  Anchor tenants include Crye Precision, a body armor and military apparel manufacturer.  Crye started here a decade ago with 4,500 square feet, today it's up to 45,000 square feet with more than 100 employees and when the new facility is complete they'll have a more efficient operation with room to grow and add at least 100 new jobs.  A second anchor tenant, Macro Sea, will lease more than 50,000 square feet for its New Lab, a facility that will promote design and manufacturing innovation using the latest in environmentally-conscious processes and machinery.    

Microsoft announced it is opening a Microsoft Research Lab in New York the 13th such lab in the country. Microsoft is in the process of hiring an initial team of 15 researchers. The lab's location, still to be determined, will be in Manhattan.  

Brooklyn is fast becoming the borough of farms. Bright Farms, a private company that develops greenhouses, announced plans to create a sprawling greenhouse on a roof in Sunset Park that is expected to yield a million pounds of produce a year - without using any dirt. The hydroponic greenhouse, at a former Navy warehouse that the city's Economic Development Corporation acquired last year, will occupy up to 100,000 square feet of rooftop space. Construction is scheduled to start in the fall, with the first harvest expected next spring. When finished, the greenhouse will rank as the largest rooftop farm in the United States.  This spring, Brooklyn Grange, another rooftop farm developer, will open it's second site a 45,000-square-foot commercial operation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Bright Farms greenhouse will join a half-dozen commercial rooftop farms in New York City. Next year, Gotham Greens plans to open three new rooftop greenhouses in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx; the new sites, which will be hydroponic, would raise the company's total production to 200,000 square feet. 

Macy's Inc. is undertaking a series of organizational expansions, totaling approximately 725 new positions during the next two years, to support the growth of macys.com and bloomingdales.com. The company's fast-growing online businesses are being fueled by an omni-channel strategy that allows customers to shop seamlessly in stores, online and via mobile devices.

7-Eleven is taking Manhattan by storm. The Dallas-based convenience store operator  opened two outposts in Murray Hill and has signed leases for another two locations elsewhere in the borough. The company, which has several additional leases out for negotiation in Manhattan, is also moving onto college campuses and airports. By the end of 2012, 7-Eleven planed to have between 15 and 20 Manhattan locations and in the next five years, the company aims to operate 100 outposts in the area.

Layoffs and Closings

Time Warner Cable announced that it will lay off 120 employees from its telecommunications provider sales-inbound department. The layoffs are expected to be completed by the week of July 11^th, 2013.

Cookies on Webster, a Bronx-based department store announced that it will close its doors in June and lay off all of its 124 employees by June 20^th, 2013.

The Children's Aid Society has lost one of its funding sources and announced that it will be shutting down its homemakers unit and cutting staff at other chapters. The total impact is expected to be approximately 135 employees, split between nine locations in the city.

Priority Production Services LLC, a outsourcing servies company specializing in broadcasting and audiovisual services, will lay off 102 staff effective 06/30/2013 because of the loss of a contract.

The South Bronx Mental Council is shuttering four of its New York City facilities and laying off 128 employees. Layoffs occurred on March 29, 2013.

EcoSys, a project controls software company that works in energy, construction and other industries, said  it is relocating its headquarters from New York City to Broomfield, NJ and adding a training facility to its Denver-area operations. The privately held company said it's growing, and its customers will benefit from the new training facility it will have at its new Broomfield headquarters. The company has 75 employees, but didn't say how many would be moved to Broomfield.

CIFRA Escorts will lay off 154 workers at three locations, on each in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, because it lost a contract for bus services with the NYC Department of Education. The layoffs will begin 6/30/2013.

Hoyt Transportation will lay off 458 workers at it's Bronx facility and an additional 260 from it's Brooklyn because it lost a contract for bus services with the NYC Department of Education. The layoffs will begin 6/27/2013.

Hoyt Transportation will lay off 458 workers at it's Bronx facility and an additional 260 from it's Brooklyn because it lost a contract for bus services with the NYC Department of Education. The layoffs will begin 6/27/2013.

Rainbow Transit will lay off 269 workers at three locations, on each in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. The layoffs will begin 6/26/2013.

Boro Wide Buses (Kings County) will lay off 99 workers on 06/30/2013 because it lost a contract for bus services with the NYC Department of Education.

Long Island College Hospital (Kings County), a unit of SUNY Downstate Medical Center, filed notice with the NYS DOL that 1,714 workers will be laid off between 6/18/2013 and 7/1/2013 when the hospital closes.

Four at YOTEL New York, a food company serving a chain of trendy budget Yotel hotels, has severed its relationship with its parent company. Richard Sandoval, a celebrity chef who also owns a dozen properties in Los Angeles and Miami, will close the four hotel-affiliated restaurants by the end of March. The company filed a notice with the NYS DOL that 102 people will be laid off.

BlackRock Inc., is cutting 3% of its workforce as part of a broader reorganization of the investment management firm. That share equates to a reduction of approximately 300 jobs, although the exact number has not been yet determined. BlackRock already rearranged the management structure last year, but the firm's president Rob Kapito said in a memo to company employees that the firm is further reorganizing the business to align with its "strategic priorities" and those moves include a reduction in its staff. The company did not say where the cuts would be made but said in a statement that "the reshaping is global in nature and is generally proportional across regions and businesses."

HMSHost International, a food service company, will lay off 128 people by May 14^th, as the company moves out of the space that is being renovated by Delta Airlines.

The Food Emporium, a struggling high-end outpost of the bankrupt A&P grocery chain, announced that it will close two of its Manhattan stores (the company has 16 in total in the borough). Between the two establishments, 178 employees will be laid off, with the final layoff date in the first week of June.

Time Inc., home to venerable titles such as Time, People and Sports Illustrated, began a steep round of layoffs that claimed just under 250 jobs at its New York headquarters. CEO Laura Lang said she would slash a total of 500 jobs, or 6 percent of the global workforce, as the magazine publisher wrestles with falling print ad revenue. Time Warner announced plans to spin off it's Time magazine unit into a separate publically-traded coorporation after talks to sell some magazines to publisher Mereditn Corp. faltered.

Bendiner & Schlesinger, a privately-held medical laboratory company headquartered in Brooklyn, filed a WARN notice for all 238 of its employees effective 5/15/2013 after completing the sale of all its assets to another company.

First to Care Home Care, which is based in Brooklyn, will lay off 146 workers effective 04/15/2013.

Barclays Capital will lay off 302 workers at various NYC offices beginning 05/15/2013.

The Archdiocese of New York announced the closing of seven struggling Bronx schools. Our Lady of Mercy in Fordham; Holy Spirit elementary school in Morris Heights; Our Lady of Angels school in Kingsbridge; St. Jerome school in Mott Haven; St. Anthony's School in Wakefield; St. Mary Star of the Sea school on City Island, and Blessed Sacrament in Soundview will close. The combined total registration of all eight schools was less than 2,000 students. The seven schools employed about 150. Though unionized, teachers at the closed schools will have no job guarantees, however, a diocese spokeswoman said teacher lists will be compiled and shared with schools that have openings.

Canal Escorts, whose workers were part of the strike by ATU Local 1181 against school bus companies that had contracts with New Yiork City, announced that it was closing and immediately terminated all 134 of its workers.

Morgan Stanley laid off 338 at various NYC offices effective 01/14/2013.

Beyer Farms, Inc. laid off all 209 of its employees effective 12/11/2012. The dairy company announced the layoffs after their main supplier of milk products stopped deliveries because of past due bills.

Big M. Inc, the company that operates Mandee and Annie Sez, declared Chapter 11 saying it can't pay the bills because its insurance companies won't cough up the cash owed from millions in hurricane-related claims. New Jersey-based Big M plans to keep its 129 stores open through the reorganization process while fighting for reimbursement from insurance carriers, totaling more than $6 million. There are no immediate plans to cut any of Big M's 1,200 jobs.

When Superstorm Sandy swept through Liberty and Ellis Islands last month, the damage it caused not only closed the attractions to the public through the end of the year—but about 400 people lost their jobs. The concessionaire that runs the cafés and gift shops there, Evelyn Hill Inc., laid off 170 people, while the ferry company that brings visitors to the monuments, Statue Cruises, laid off 130 employees. The rest of the employees who lost their jobs provide security services or work for an audio firm that allows visitors to listen to the history of both islands while they take in the sights.

News Corp. said on Monday that it is shutting down The Daily, its ambitious but expensive attempt to create an iPad newspaper, on Dec. 15. The company filed a WARN with the state for 126 people to be laid off on 3/5/2013.

Crushed by long-term debt and expenses that far outstrip revenue, Interfaith Medical Center filed for bankruptcy, making the Brooklyn facility the 11th city hospital or health system since 2005 to go belly up. The restructuring of Interfaith, the largest employer in Bedford-Stuyvesant, will give it more time to stay afloat while it pursues a likely merger with the Brooklyn Hospital Center. It's unclear what a restructuring would mean for Interfaith's 1,516 full-time workers.

Health website operator WebMD Health Corp. plans to cut about 14% of its workforce as part of a push to reduce costs. The New York company said Tuesday the cuts amount to about 250 positions, and it expects to reduce annual operating expenses by about $45 million. Most of the job cuts will take place by the end of the year, while some of the other cost-cutting measures will extend into the first three months of 2013.

Credit Suisse announced that it will be laying off 138 employees from its 1 Madison Avenue and 11 Madison Avenue locations.

Long Island College Hospital laid off 150 employees in a major bloodletting at the ailing medical institution. The University Hospital of Brooklyn at LICH — a newly restructured hospital that merged with SUNY Downstate Medical Center last year — gave 30 days notice to the terminated workers, according to spokeswoman Zipporah Dvash. An insider said LICH, which now has more than 300 beds, is planning to downsize to a 220-bed facility.

The law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf announced the layoff of 433 staff effective 5/15/12. An additional 20 staff were terminated on 5/31/2012.

Ben Benson's Steakhouse is closing. All 80 staff will be laid off between 6/17/2012 and 7/30/2012.

A & P is closing two grocery stores in New York City effective 8/27/2012.  A Pathmark store in Long Island City with 127 workers and a Waldbaum's in Bayside with 77. United Food & Commercial Workers locals 342 and 1245 represent some of the affected workers.

HMS Business Services is relocating to Irvington, Texas and will layoff 86 employees on 9/1/2012.

Strauss Auto is liquidating. The chain will close 19 stores in New York City - 9 in Brooklyn, 5 in Queens, 4 in the Bronx and 1 on Staten Island. A total of 291 workers were laid off effective 6/4/2012. United Food & Commercial Workers local 888 represents some of the affected workers.

Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland's second-biggest lender, will begin cutting 126 jobs in Manhattan in the "next few months." The dismissals affect offices at 1 Madison Ave. and 11 Madison Ave. and will extend through Aug. 6^th 2012.

Troubled electronics retailer Best Buy announced it would be closing its two-year-old East Harlem outpost, a 150,000-square-foot store on East 117th Street.

Plaza Recovery Inc, a debt recovery service, has announced its plans to let go 131 people. The layoffs will occur between 5/7 and 5/20 of 2012.

Seedco, which lost its City contracts after allegations of improper recordkeeping, will layoff 118 staff at five different sites - two Workforce1 centers and three Business Solution Centers. Layoffs will begin on 4/20/12 and be complete by the end of May.

Credit Suisse Securities said it will lay off 109 people in the period between 3/12/12 and 5/1/2012 at its 1 Madison Avenue and 11 Madison Avenue locations.

Planet Hollywood Cafe, a popular tourist destination, has declared bankruptcy and all 277 employees were to be let go by June 4^th 2012.

Cabrini Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Manhattan is slated to close and will lay off 273 workers by June 6^th 2012.  

Esprit, a trendy fashion brand, is closing several retail stores and shuttering its U.S. corporate headquarters in order to concentrate on growth in Asia. The company said that it plans to lay off 204 people by 4/25/12.