••• “The City Council unanimously approved a rezoning of North Tribeca on Wednesday that strictly limits the size of new hotels in the area, while allowing for more residential—including affordable housing—and mixed-use development.” (Crain’s)

••• A 21-story building (left) appears to be coming to 19 Park Place. (Curbed)

••• “In December 2001, while on assignment in Tokyo, the photographer Lyle Owerko came across a funky old boombox at an outdoor market. He was struck by its bulk and intrigued by its link to a vanished New York of break dancing and graffiti, and as soon as he returned home to New York he began scouring flea markets and eBay for more of them. ‘That’s when the obsession started,’ he said recently at his Tribeca studio, where dozens of the machines, covered in protective Bubble Wrap, were piled in a corner. Mr. Owerko’s interest grew into a book, ‘The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music, and the Urban Underground,’ published this month by Abrams Image.” (New York Times)

••• “Hoping to return a seasonal outdoor ice rink to Battery Park City this winter, the Battery Park City Authority says that a new operator for the rink could be named by the end of the month.” (Tribeca Trib)

••• “Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the stage of ‘The View’ Thursday during an argument with Bill O’Reilly over the proposed Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks. The women objected to the Fox News Channel host saying that ‘Muslims killed us on 9/11.’ They returned after an O’Reilly apology.” (AP/Yahoo)

••• “Fetch Club opened this week in the Financial District, offering everything a dog could possibly need—and plenty more besides. Stressed dogs may opt for a pedicure, a Reiki massage or an aromatherapy session. Dogs with some energy to burn can trot on one of the doggy-sized treadmills or work with a personal trainer.” (DNAinfo)

••• “When John Woelfling was designing Battery Park City’s new P.S./I.S. 276, he came across a children’s book called ‘Sideways Stories from Wayside School’ by Louis Sachar. In the book, the school’s contractor accidentally builds the 30 classrooms one on top of the other, in a tower, rather than putting them all on one floor. Unlike the book, it’s no accident that P.S. 276 is taller than the average school. The narrow slip of land and zoning codes at 55 Batter Place made it easier to go up than build out. ‘This is definitely a unique facility,’ Woelfling said Wednesday morning as he gave a tour of the eight-story building after a ribbon cutting at the $81 million elementary and middle school.” (DNAinfo)

••• “Customers were three deep at the counter on Battery Place Market’s opening day. ‘We served free coffee to celebrate the start of business,’ explained Ken Jackson—but it wasn’t just any coffee: ‘We serve Stumptown Roaster,’ said Mr. Jackson, ‘which draws a crowd wherever it’s available. […] Nor is coffee the only product that Battery Place Market (located on the ground floor of the Visionaire condominium, at the corner of Battery Place and Third Place) treats as a craft. ‘We have fresh mozzarella that comes every day from Narragansett Creamery, in Rhode Island,’ Mr. Jackson noted […].” (Broadsheet Daily)