••• Hyperallergic visits the studio of artist John Willenbecher and admires his recent work: “This is Willenbecher’s genius: he has made paintings in which stability and disorder are inseparable. Made of acrylic paint on a flat piece of fiberboard, the paintings are bodacious, festive, thoughtful, controlled, disarrayed, and delightfully topsy-turvy. Like those ancient stargazers who imagined the hunter Orion and the archer Sagittarius striding the night sky, Willenbecher mixes observable reality and inventive imagination so perfectly that they have become virtually indistinguishable from each other.” (You’ll recall that John wrote a memorable memoir about life during Sandy and its aftermath.)

••• “Bonjour Capital has filed applications to construct a new 18-story building at 59 Franklin Street, in Tribeca, between Church and Broadway. The architect of record is Goldner.” Actually, it’s between Broadway and Cortlandt Alley (and typical of New York YIMBY, he thinks it’s not big enough. Anyway!) That’s also 358 Broadway; the lot is L-shaped, and the buildings on the corner of Broadway and Franklin will likely also get torn down and replaced by a different developer. You might recall from this post back in March that Christine Boeke said in a comment that the new building “will probably end up looking like 88 Leonard.” “Demolition filings for the existing 5-story structure were approved in May.”

••• New York magazine gives Bâtard three of five stars (in an overall positive review); and then of course there’s this: “Most people in this particular neighborhood seem to be wine-guzzling titans of finance.” Well, sure, at an expensive restaurant, that would be the impression. Gael Greene also loves the food at Bâtard, although she admits she’s not objective on this one.

••• Immaculate Infatuation takes back what it said about Marc Forgione, decides the restaurant is worthy: “Marc Forgione is Perfect For those times when you want to throw down on a baller meal and not think twice about the bill, or go out for a Special Occasion dinner that’s not quite as expensive as the other big boys, but also doesn’t feel as stuffy.”

••• The New York Times visits the Mana Contemporary arts complex in Jersey City, noting that Moishe Mana (of Moishe’s Moving and Storage) sees it as “a lure for drawing inhabitants from across state lines to residences that he plans to develop into what he calls ‘TriBeCa West.'”

••• “In what is shaping up to be a banner year for Downtown Little League, two girls softball teams are now in contention for the New York State championships.” —Broadsheet

••• Shinola is opening a store in Chicago (to go with the ones in Tribeca, Detroit, and Minneapolis). I’d have wagered on Portland and Austin, myself…. —Racked

••• Newyorkologist tweeted this photo, saying it’s of “Elevated Train Lines at Moore Street, Tribeca, New York.” (I didn’t see it on the site, though.)

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