Seen & Heard: Design Firm Moving In

••• I went to Telepan Tribeca again last night for one final dinner (its last night is tonight). I was glad to see the place hoppin’! As a solo diner, I had to sit at the counter in the window, which isn’t my favorite option, but the food made up for it. Here’s hoping it pops up again. Pictured above: the fried rice with asparagus, duck confit, and an egg that I broke open before remembering to take a photo. P.S. to Bill Telepan: Sorry for comparing pasture-raised veal to Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go on Twitter.

••• Installation artist Brandon Choi, currently based in Tribeca (but soon heading back to South Korea), has a show opening Wednesday at Rogue Space Chelsea Gallery. Left: “Flower Mannequin.”

••• The Hideaway‘s first blue crab night of the summer is Sunday.

••• From a press release from State Senator Daniel Squadron’s office: “Yesterday, [a bunch of local politicians] brought together stakeholders to prepare for the opening of the 9/11 Memorial and ensure that tour bus traffic does not choke Lower Manhattan come September 12th. This was the second meeting of stakeholders. The New York City Department of Transportation and New York Police Department reported back to residents, business leaders and elected officials on proposals to discourage tour buses and encourage visitors to take the PATH and ferries into Lower Manhattan. These proposals include the first-ever dispatch system for curbside bus pick-up and drop-off, metered bus parking, and increased penalties for illegally-parked buses. While each of the proposed solutions is innovative, concerns were raised about agency coordination and implementation in time for the 9/11 Memorial’s opening this September.” The rest of it is a bunch of hot air quotes. Councilmember Margaret Chin’s mentions the problem of buses in general, something I was thinking about while sitting in the window of Pécan/Telepan Tribeca, watching as a big commercial bus stopped at W. Broadway and Franklin and let a passenger (and her luggage) out. Can they really just do that anywhere they want?

••• The word on the street is that a design firm has leased the old William B. May real estate office on Hudson (next to Torly Kid).

••• More politicians! Press release from Mayor Bloomberg’s office: “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced New York City will launch a global communications and marketing campaign designed to promote Lower Manhattan to visitors and worldwide travel media. […] The NYC & Company-designed campaign will launch on June 1. It will include an array of travel itineraries; hotel offers promoting weekend stays with a Downtown Culture Pass and late check-out; 20 percent off offers at Lower Manhattan shops, restaurants, attractions and cultural institutions; outdoor media ads promoting Lower Manhattan throughout the City’s five boroughs; a taxicab TV spot promoting Lower Manhattan; a new global social media initiative to highlight attractions and events in Lower Manhattan; and an initiative to promote Lower Manhattan to meeting planners. A new welcome program at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 4 will also debut in June with colorful and vibrant posters, wall clings and column wraps showing imagery of the City with a particular emphasis on Lower Manhattan. The campaign will encourage visitors to stay in Lower Manhattan, and, for those who stay elsewhere, it will encourage them to travel downtown by mass transit.” Am I the only consumer who sees this kind of stuff and assumes it means I wouldn’t normally want to go there?

••• The Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center has interesting photos of the restoration of the Corbin Building, part of the Fulton Street Transit Center: “The Corbin Building, completed in 1889, is home to architectural details that simply do not, or could not, exist today. In fact, its intricate red terra cotta façade, brass and mahogany spiral staircase, marble wainscoting, and other fine designs made the slender tower one of unrivaled quality for any era.

 

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