••• “Police say that a thief, believed to be behind five burglaries in the neighborhood, has yet to be caught, but did not strike again in June.” Duh. He’s in the Hamptons. “[The NYPD says that] additional officers, including undercover cops, have been patrolling the area, walking up and down stairs looking for ‘anybody suspicious.'” —Tribeca Trib

••• The Spring Studios (and still half Verizon) building at 50 Varick has been flipped. Of particular note in the New York Post article: “According to public documents, condo by-laws require the building to be entirely smoke-free, which may become an issue at some point for some of Spring’s fashionista clients.” Surely the two tenants could get the bylaws changed? Anyway, Spring is only allowing smoking on a small part of the roof. P.S. Never say “fashionista.” P.P.S. Did you miss the photo tour of the under-construction Spring Studios complex? Now you have no excuse.

••• “New York City has taken control of the nonprofit South Street Seaport Museum, an unusual move to save an institution that was hammered by superstorm Sandy and is now in limbo after losing the support of a museum partner. Three Bloomberg administration officials now make up a sort of life raft—a skeleton board of trustees to keep the institution alive while the city scrambles to find a new institutional partner to run the museum after the withdrawal of the Museum of the City of New York.” —Wall Street Journal

••• “Seaport Museum In Line for Grant to Keep Wavertree [ship] Afloat.” —Broadsheet

••• Posted on the FiDi Fan Page: “84 William (corner of Maiden Lane) is/was operating as a dorm for the New School. In the last few months both retail spaces closed and remain empty. Two weeks ago I saw furniture and lamps being moved out. Last week the New School banner was removed and the lobby door is now is cracked and has taped glass, the interior of the lobby is barren. I haven’t even seen a security guard. I don’t think there’s anyone in there anymore. Is this the latest downtown dorm to be reconverted to luxury housing? The building is owned by Metroloft Mgt (owners of 20 Exchange, 116 John, 67 Wall and 17 John among others). […] Before it became a dorm it was designed to hold 121 apartments!” I reached out to Metroloft to see if it’s true.

••• “Merchants Hospitality has four new eateries open or in the works near the South Street Seaport […] Oaxaca Express, a pop-up taco stand, opened July 3 at 70 South St. between Fletcher and Maiden lanes [….] The kiosk will remain temporarily at 70 South St. until the fall, when Merchant expects to open a new location of his nouveau American restaurant, the Merchant’s River House. […] And last week, it opened Cones Café, which carries 12 flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, in the glass-enclosed space next door to Watermark Bar.” Wonder how the Cones Ice Cream Artisans shop on Bleecker feels about that name…. —DNAinfo