Ponte Equities may have thought it could do a little exploratory drilling in northwest Tribeca—soil tests being a precursor to development—on the days before July 4 and no one notice, but Tribeca Citizen readers do not rest.

Yesterday, I got a tip from an anonymous reader: “Saw this drilling truck [above] taking ground samples at the parking garage space on north side of Desbrosses between Washington and Greenwich. Perhaps another big condo project?” The truck is shown on the Washington side, and the building goes through to 454-456 Greenwich, which you may know better as Chad-Erik EZ Park, known online as Chad & Eric’s EZ Park, as if people named Erik don’t mind their names being misspelled. (That plot appears to also be known as 26-28 Desbrosses.) Moreover, any development could—and given how much of the area Ponte owns, likely would—include 445 Washington, the neighbor to the north.

If you thought Ponte Equities might only be working on something for Washington Street—a new neighbor for 449 Washington, which can’t relish this news coming up right as it launches sales—think again: This morning, the same reader spotted the drilling happening on Greenwich. Here’s a photo that @ZephirRed tweeted my way:

According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, only the Greenwich building is within the Tribeca North Historic District (and none are individually landmarked). Tearing Chad-Erik EZ Park down would not necessarily be an easy sell to the LPC, but seeing as how the building is not exactly the most distinguished in the area, it may not be a tough sell, either.

The Greenwich building has a bunch of open Department of Buildings citations—discovered when it caught fire last February—so Ponte may be thinking it’s easier to start fresh. One presumes that, as at 460 Washington, Ponte is keeping ownership of the land and leasing it out to a developer.

So many questions remain: How big will it be? Who’s doing the developing? Rental or condo? [UPDATE: James makes a good comment about that below.] Where will the kids go to school? And where will the parents park? I reached out to Ponte Equities; if they respond, I’ll update it here.

P.S. Here’s a screengrab from Google Maps that gives a sense of which buildings this is about.