•••”Hotelier André Balazs has lost out on his bid to turn the historic downtown landmark Temple Court into a 200-room hotel. […] Sources tell us that after The Standard and Chateau Marmont owner Balazs last year put down a sizable deposit of his own money, said to be as much as $5 million, he struggled to get financing for the renovation and the deal collapsed, losing his deposit. But another source says Balazs ‘pulled out of the deal before Christmas for reasons nothing to do with financing.’ […] Sources said Allen Gross’ GFI Capital Resources, which owns the Ace Hotel, is interested.” —New York Post

••• The buyer of the $17 million penthouse on Canal is a hedge-fund founder named Harsh Padia; his wife, Purvia, is an interior designer. —New York Observer

••• The New York Post goes foraging with Matthew Lightner, chef of the “soon-to-open” Atera, and learns this: “The intimate restaurant will feature a 12-seat, reservations-only dining bar, a five-seat table and an open kitchen, serving a single, set tasting menu each night at two seatings for about $150 per person.” And this: “A variety of herbs growing from a ‘living’ wall in the restaurant will also provide ingredients.” And this: “When the restaurant opens its doors, expect dishes containing wild licorice root, dried lichen, wintergreen, sassafras, monkfish roe and spruce. By early spring, ingredients such as wild ginger, birch water and shad roe will appear.” Eater thought the article read like a “Portlandia” skit.

••• According to amNY, partners in Super Linda include Serge Becker (The Box, La Esquina, Miss Lily’s Favourite Cakes) and Richard Ampudia (Bar Bruno).

••• “As word spread of the barricades at Zuccotti Park being taken down overnight, a slow stream of Occupy Wall Street protesters—who made the site their home for two months—began to trickle back. Several hundred activists made their way to the park by early Wednesday morning, with more expected later in the day, protestors said.” —DNAinfo

••• Eater summarizes the Demi Monde press release that came out this morning: “The front, street-level section of Demi Monde will indeed function as a coffee shop during the day, serving nearby locals and office workers. At night the bulk of the space, located via a winding staircase to a subterranean level, will open and will provide, press materials promise, ‘an underground nightlife experience like no other.’ The space will have a 200 person capacity with seating for 120 and will be divided into a series of connected rooms. There will be a sunken lounge filled with tables, a carpeted VIP area,”—Carpeted? Wowzapalooza!—”a bar, a DJ booth, and ‘places out of the action to sit or mingle.’ On the menu: serious cocktails—co-owners include bar man Alex Day and Death & Co’s David Kaplan after all—a wine list with a focus on sparkling wine, and share plates from Vandaag alum Phillip Kirschen-Clark. It opens to the public in mid-February.”

••• Cute gimmick: “Sign the lease on the 3,000 square foot 3BR/3.5BA loft at 165 William Street and the owners will let you name the entire 30,000 square foot building; this includes signage.” —Curbed

••• “Gray Line New York’s red double-decker tour buses have been making an appearance in Battery Park City’s north end, but the owner of CitySightseeing Cruises and Gray Line says the situation is only temporary.” —The Broadsheet. Related: The Battery Park City Broadsheet is now just The Broadsheet “because we serve more communities (including Tribeca, Fidi, and the Seaport) than the one that gave birth to us (and will always be our home base). So, how much would you care to bet that the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post follow our lead (as usual) by streamlining their brands and shedding their parochial roots?”