When a media company starts hiring, it makes news. And when that company is hiring more people than expected it’s a cause for celebration.

This fall, we were excited to learn that The Wall Street Journal was seeking to hire about a dozen local New York reporters to cover everything from city and state government to the arts for a new section in the paper set to compete directly against The New York Times.

But the hiring news now is getting even better (although the Times might disagree). Today, The New York Observer reports that the Journal‘s New York bureau will actually include three times as many staffers as originally expected — including a number of former New York Sun writers and editors, like John Seeley, the former managing editor of the Sun, who has been picked to lead the new bureau. Other reported hires include former Sun staffers Jacob Gershman, Kate Taylor, Erica Orden and Ryan Sager, and Michael Saul from The New York Daily News.

It’s no secret that Rupert Murdoch, CEO of Journal owner News Corp., has no love lost for the Times, and this new venture is seen among New York media circles as a direct assault against the Gray Lady’s dominance in the local media space, especially in arts coverage. We’re waiting patiently until April to see what this new launch will bring — and whether another feud between the Journal and the Times will crop up before then.

Read more: Rupert vs. the World –The Observer

Previously: Times-Journal Feud Update, Wall Street Journal Looks To Hire Local NY Reporters