The Round-Up: Wednesday

Young artists find private space and low rents at McKibben lofts in East Williamsburg, but no privacy. [NY Times]

The urban farming movement is growing, bringing crops from vacant lots to market. [NY Times]

A dozen different bills on construction safety were proposed at yesterday's City Council meeting, including one from developers that would replace the Department of Buildings with a new public corporation. [NY Times]

The Lightstone Group, which made one of the last big real estate deals before the credit squeeze, has defaulted on loans for two apartment complexes and is trying to renegotiate other loans. [NY Times]

Square Feet: The suburban office market is shaky, but holding up. [NY Times] 

The Bush Administration vows to veto a bill that would expand access to federally insured mortgages for borrowers to refinance their loans. [NY Times] 

Coney Island community groups pledged to protest if the city goes forward with Mayor Bloomberg's revised Coney Island plan. [NY Post] 

Mort Zuckerman and Joseph Moinian are battling it out on West 54th Street; Newsweek is moving its headquarters to SoHo. [NY Post] 

A former boxing champ was killed and a Manhattan office worker injured in two separate construction accidents yesterday. [NYDN] 

Restaurants are putting less expensive items on the menu to appeal to cash-strapped diners. [NY Sun]