I was walking along Warren when I noticed a bunch of permits in the window of 37 Warren, a.k.a. the building where Janovic used to be. It’s been a zombie for a while now, which has struck me as a shame because it’s not an unappealing building—and the location, along one of south Tribeca’s lovelier corridors (by which I mean Warren, not Church)—is pretty excellent. Fix up the windows and add central air—those individual units aren’t helping—and you’d have something nice. Then I saw workers.

I don’t claim to be an ace reporter, so there may very well be other, better ways one goes about investigating these matters, but I went online and—searching the address—found this record, saying that as of October 2009 the building (“Millennium Condo Conversion Project”) was “part of a bank-owned portfolio for sale.” It also listed the address as 37-39 Warren/132-128 Church, just FYI.

The permits you see in windows tend not to be helpful, because the “owner’s name” is often a shell company. That was the case on this one, which listed it as 37W Owner LLC. Searching that led me to this legal notice, detailing the formation of the LLC on Feb. 24, 2011. Note that date: Clearly, there has been recent movement. The legal notice says that correspondence may be directed “C/O Fischer Brothers-Douglas Raels, 299 Park Avenue, 42 Floor, New York, NY 10171.” Douglas Raelson is the general counsel of Fisher (no “c”) Brothers, “one of America’s preeminent fully integrated real estate partnerships with increasingly successful construction and operating subsidiaries.” (Am I the only one getting turned on?)

I called Fisher Brothers and explained that I was looking for information on 37 Warren. I was told to speak to Eric Klemperer, director of asset management. I left him two messages, but I have yet to hear back, and most likely never will. The bottom line: We don’t know what the exact plan is, but something is certainly up—and in the past few days there have been more workers around the building and inside it.

I’ll try Klemperer a few more times….

P.S. I knew I forgot something. The permits in the window were issued Mar. 2, 2011.