“Gaphattan” (Gap + Manhattan) was coined by New York City-based journalist Gersh Kuntzman in Newsweek magazine in 2003 and was popularized in The Brooklyn Paper (where Kuntzman also served as editor) from 2006. The Gap clothing stores (with several Manhattan locations) are usually found in middle class family areas, but the generic Gap stores often replace stores that have ethnic identities. “Gaphattan” represents the “Manhattanization” of an area.
 
The term “Gaphattan” does not exclusively involve a Gap store and could involve, for example, the neighborhood opening of a Starbucks coffee shop.
 
   
Wikipedia: Gap, Inc.
The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap, is an American multinational clothing and accessories retailer.

It was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company operates five primary divisions: the namesake banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, Intermix, and Athleta. Gap Inc. was surpassed by Spanish-based Inditex Group as the world’s largest apparel retailer, based on the total numbers of international locations, however it remains the largest specialty retailer in the United States.
 
Wikipedia: Manhattan
Manhattan /mænˈhætən/ is the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is coterminous with New York County, an original county of the U.S. state of New York. The borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the East, Hudson, and Harlem Rivers, but also includes several small adjacent islands, as well as Marble Hill, a small neighborhood on the mainland. Manhattan has been described as the economic and cultural center of the United States and serves as home to the United Nations Headquarters. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been called the financial capital of the world, and is home to the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. As of 2012, Manhattan’s cost of living was the highest in the United States, but the borough also contained the country’s most profound level of income inequality. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough.
     
Corcoran Sunshine
PUBLICATION:  Newsweek
DATE:  10/20/2003 12:00:00 AM
TITLE:  Want to Live in NYC? It’ll Cost You (The author is Gersh Kuntzman.—ed.)
After a new report shows the average two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan now sells for more $1 million, our columnist takes a tour of some `average’ abodes and decides he’ll stay in the Brooklyn borough
(...)
One million dollars for a living space that approximates the size of Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer’s trailer on the “Austin Powers” set? Clearly, it was time for another of my award-winning fact-finding tours, this time into the very heart of the heart of darkness: Gaphattan. I called a bunch of Manhattan real-estate brokers and was told, in short, if $1 million sounds like a lot of money, maybe you should just stay in Kansas where you belong, sweetie.
 
The Brooklyn Paper
February 25, 2006 / Perspective / Parenting / Smartmom
Smartmom’s Valentine’s ‘sexcapade’
BY LOUISE CRAWFORD
(...)
“Just wanted to report that this married couple still manages to have our sex and eat it, too,” wrote one of her Gaphattan friends.
   
The Brooklyn Paper
March 11, 2006 / Perspective / Parenting / Smartmom
The good & bad of Hepcat’s job
BY LOUISE CRAWFORD
(...)
In other words, Hepcat became a viable co-parent. Even in Park Slope, that’s a somewhat utopian thing. Most of the dads around here work in Gaphattan and don’t get home until after 7 pm.
     
The Brooklyn Paper
August 19, 2006 / Brooklyn news / Development / The Downtown plan
Flatiron on Flatbush
DOWNTOWN TOWER MIMICS GAPHATTAN ICON
BY GERSH KUNTZMAN
It looks like the lovechild of the Flatiron Building and a spaceship — but this just-unveiled rendering of a luxury condo planned for the gateway to Downtown is the latest attempt to bring Manhattan across the river.
 
“This is the start of a renaissance of this whole area,” the building’s architect, Ismael Leyva, told The Brooklyn Papers this week, touting his plans for a 22-story tower on the triangular-shaped lot at Flatbush Avenue Extension and Tillary and Duffield streets.
 
Leyva said his design was inspired not only by the Flatiron Building, but also by wanting to play a role in the further Manhattanization of Brooklyn.
 
The Brooklyn Paper
September 16, 2006 / Brooklyn news / Development / Around Brooklyn
Gaphattan builder: Stay small
BY GERSH KUNTZMAN
Manhattan architect Richard Meier — famed for his iconic, celebrity-filled glass-walled towers on West Street in Manhattan — celebrated his first Brooklyn building last week with a warning to his fellow master builders: Keep it small.
 
Weighing in on the ongoing debate over the “Manhattanization” of Brooklyn, Meier sided with starchitects who appreciate Brooklyn’s unique look and character.
   
Curbed—NY
#2. 02/05/09 11:13 AM
Guest
Use of the word “Gaphattan” tells me the writer is a useless idiot.
 
Twitter
Gersh Kuntzman
‏@GershKuntzman
Latest examp on why Brooklyn is better than Gaphattan: Crains on Barclays Center: http://bit.ly/Z3DR4K
1:07 PM - 17 Apr 2013
   
The Brooklyn Paper
October 16, 2014 / Brooklyn news / Development / Downtown
Gaphattan-style food court headed Downtown
BY MATTHEW PERLMAN
Fulton Mall is getting a Manhattan-esque food court.
 
The second phase of the massive retail and residential development City Point has topped out on the former site of Albee Square Mall and, a developer has revealed, it will include a “Chelsea-Market-style” bazaar and food court featuring 40 sellers and a bevy of Brooklyn restaurants.
   
Twitter
Nathan
‏@nathantempey
This also seemed like an ideal moment to revive the term “Gaphattan,” which was once house style at The @Brooklyn_Paper.
2:55 PM - 16 Oct 2014
 
Twitter
Gersh Kuntzman
‏@GershKuntzman
@barrypopik @nathantempey I coined “gaphattan” years ago. All me.
7:43 PM - 19 Oct 2014