••• “In 2014, portions of the fence [around the World Trade Center] will be dismantled, enabling people to go back and forth freely between the memorial and parts of downtown, according to Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He said he is ‘100%’ sure it will happen this year, perhaps as early as May when the 9/11 Memorial Museum on the site is scheduled to open. The exact timing on the fence removal, though, remains unclear. A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, declined to comment. But earlier this month, at a meeting of the downtown community board, a Port Authority representative said possible plans for fencing removal this year would include the west side of the memorial plaza along West Street, the south end along Liberty Street and a portion of Greenwich Street.” I’ll believe it when I see it (and I hope I do! Removing it all is the only way to weave the site back into the fabric of the city). Check out the Wall Street Journal‘s graphic to see exactly how little of the overall fence we’re talking about.

••• Maison Ladurée opens in Soho on Feb. 5. —Racked

••• “Mototainment, LLC has signed a 15-year, 8,300-square-foot lease at Trinity Real Estate’s 155 Avenue of the Americas [at Spring]. The tenant, also known as Ducati Triumph NYC, is  an authorized dealer and service provider of Ducati, Triumph and Mission motorcycles. The dealer has signed a direct lease with the landlord after previously subleasing ground floor retail space at the Hudson Square property.” One more and we have a trend! —Commercial Observer