••• R. earned a merit badge for spotting the rendering (directly below) in the window of 13-17 Laight (further below, for comparison’s sake), which you probably know better as the former home of Tribeca Cinemas. A rep for the new-ish owner, Vanbarton Group, insisted that it’s meaningless. “I was as surprised to hear about that as you were,” he said. “I called the super, and an old rendering from way back when had been placed in the window. It has nothing to do with our redevelopment plans.” We’ll learn more in due course.

••• “They’ve unfurled the metallic curtains at 56  Leonard and then lit them from the top,” reports A. “I think it will be very interesting and W hotel–like in the evening.” I’ll try to remember to take a photo.

••• Work is happening inside the former Subway sandwich shop at 137 Hudson, and the windows are papered. Anyone know what’s coming?

••• Bâtard has stopped its Friday lunch service; the restaurant is back to only serving dinner.

••• I emailed the Village Voice to see if the company would remove the newspaper box at Broadway and Murray—because I’ve become that person—and lo and behold, they said the boxes are scheduled for removal this week.

••• The Downtown Alliance’s annual adopt-a-plant event is 10 a.m. to noon on October 18; stop by Bowling Green for a free SunPatiens plant.

••• Walking by 529 Broadway yesterday—that’s where the new Nike store is—I thought about the New York Times’s rave of the building. The writer praised it primarily because of the ornamentation, but I was struck by spacing discrepancies like the one pictured below. Surely what makes old buildings stand out isn’t simply the level of ornament, but also the care with which they were made.