Matthew Broderick joins NYU expansion fray; Katie Holmes rented pre-divorce Chelsea bolthole; Baldwins buy next door

Matthew Broderick has been a regular fixture at meetings involving NYU’s proposed Greenwich Village expansion. The actor spent his earliest years on Washington Square North and feels a special affinity for the Village. Broderick explained recently in his testimony before the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning that he fears the university’s long-ago promise of a public park may disappear with the planned expansion (CurbedNY).

Rumors emerged recently that actress Katie Holmes rented an apartment at the Chelsea Mercantile building at 252 Seventh Avenue before news of her divorce from “Top Gun” Tom Cruise hit the headlines. Holmes, who is seeking sole custody of daughter Suri, 6, has been seen several times on her way to her three-bedroom apartment in the luxury NYC condo building, which boasts a children’s playroom and a 10,000-square-foot landscaped roof deck with Statue of Liberty views (Daily Beast).

Alec Baldwin’s new bride recently acquired more space in the recently-wed couple’s residence, Devonshire House at 28 East 10th Street in Greenwich Village. Yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas reportedly paid $1.2 million for the apartment next door to the 4,137-square-foot home that her new hubby purchased for $11.7 million last October (NYObserver).