••• “Could Larry Silverstein’s stalled Four Seasons condo-hotel across from the World Trade Center—the brainchild of his daughter Lisa—finally be leaving winter for spring? The downtown dean told The Wall Street Journal that while there is no financing yet in place, he expects to begin construction by 2012 and have the project finished by 2014.” That’s the pit at 99 Church, with the sidewalk-figure public art on the fence. (New York Observer)

••• “A tipster excitedly sent us [a] screen grab from the Ground Zero webcam (try it out!) today, adding, ‘the North Pool has WATER today!!!’ We assumed this was due to yesterday’s rain, but then another tipster e-mailed to say, ‘Rumors are swirling around that the north pool has begun testing its water. Could be just a test for leakage, but it has rained before since they put up most of the waterproofing and this didn’t happen.'” (Curbed)

••• Alexis Stewart, Martha’s daughter, cut the asking price of her Ice House penthouse to $10.45 million. (Curbed)

••• Manhattan Loft Guy investigates two sales at the Pearline Soap Factory. (via Curbed)

••• The Brooklyn Rail talks to art critic Raphael Rubenstein (who lives in Tribeca) about his new website, The Silo: “Reading The Silo isn’t exactly the same as sitting with Rubinstein in his living room in Tribeca, looking through old art books and obscure catalogs while he explains the work and lives of amazing artists you’ve never known. In lieu of a ‘moment,’ it provides archival longevity—but the feel is still personal, the touch as expertly handmade as a blog can be.”

••• “Transportation officials say it could take up to a year before drivers will have convenient access to a large section of Lower Manhattan from West Street. Due to the state’s ongoing reconstruction of the highway, residents living south of the World Trade Center on both sides of the highway have for years been unable to turn left from West Street onto Albany Street, the only direct access into Lower Manhattan’s west side south of the World Trade Center site. With work mostly completed on the southernmost stretch of West Street, drivers as well as residents relying on cabs to take them home had hoped the city and state Departments of Transportation would reinstate the turning lane.” (Tribeca Trib)

••• “Far-fetched as this may seem, some real estate professionals predict that in 20 years, the balance will tilt in the other direction [from Midtown to Downtown]. Condé Nast is close to signing a lease for 1 million square feet in One World Trade Center (the former Freedom Tower), the anchor of a redevelopment project that looks like it might finally be on track; a project that will bring 10 million square feet of high-quality office space to an aging Manhattan office market; in a location surrounded by ever-more-successful residential neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New Jersey, downtown Manhattan and the Financial District itself; in a city whose center of gravity continues to shift southward. Some real estate professionals go so far as to predict that Lower Manhattan could become the new Plaza district, the most sought-after office market in the city, and by extension, the nation.” (New York Observer)

••• Tribeca-based furniture designers Commonweath (Zoë Coombes and David Boira) were featured in the new issue of T Magazine—including on the cover.

••• The New York Times reviewed the news installation of the permanent collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. (I can’t make the link work but that’s where the review is supposed to be; maybe the NYT will fix it.)