It's always nice when a user-friendly local bar manages to survive and prosper in New York's cutthroat nightlife industry, especially if said bar happens to be in the Meatpacking District. Brass Monkey--one of the lone remaining bars on Little West 12th Street where you don't have to be on a list or drop a name to get in--is expanding. As per an email from owner Sean Cunningham:

"We are opening another bar with a roof deck, overlooking the Hudson River.  We are expecting the build-out to be finished at the start of June ... It's an extension of Brass Monkey. We've renovated the bathrooms and hallway downstairs, and the outside deck is going to look fantastic."

There's talk of the additional space being adapted into a beer garden, though we'll have to wait and see as the renovation is closer to completion. 

Finally, a bar that's under construction to expand, rather than one that's using "construction" as code, to mean "closed indefinitely while we determine how to get out of our lease and avoid filing for bankruptcy."

(Image courtesy of BrassMonkeyNYC.com)