••• “A Tribeca condo building is to blame for ‘sinkholes’ in a public school playground, as well as in an adjacent dog run [pictured], because of its shoddy construction, the city alleged in a recent lawsuit. The builders and owners of 200 Chambers St., a soaring condo tower that sits behind P.S. 234, are at fault for recurring patches of sinking land, and need to pay to remedy the problem, according to the suit filed in Manhattan Civil Court on Dec. 11.” —DNAinfo

••• “There now appears to be two vacant seats on the board of the Battery Park City Authority. The name of longtime board member Frank Branchini recently disappeared from the section of the Authority’s website that lists the names of senior officials at the Authority. (Another place on the BPCA’s seven-seat board has been empty since May, 2014.) […] At some point in 2011, Mr. Branchini moved to Tenafly, New Jersey. This would have made him legally ineligible to be appointed (or reappointed) to the board of any State authority, but did not prevent him from continuing to serve on the BPCA’s board once already seated.” —Broadsheet

••• “Pharma profiteer Martin Shkreli blew $120 on a cup of tea to impress an actress he met on Tinder, his date revealed Tuesday.” It was at Brushstroke. —New York Post

••• “A con man obsessed with Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in the film Catch Me if You Can tried to pull his own impersonation scam by pretending to be a wounded US Army veteran to lease a BMW SUV and a luxury apartment in the Financial District [10 Hanover Square], authorities said Tuesday.” —New York Post

••• An 86-story building is planned at 45 Broad. Rendering at left. —6sqft

••• A New York Times article about the unfortunate changes happening to the Hotel Okura, a midcentury landmark in Tokyo, includes this: “New York enclaves like Soho and Tribeca are losing local restaurants to high-rise condos, and many fear the same is happening in Tokyo.” There’s probably a correlation, but I’m not sure it’s all that direct.

••• The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a topper at 13 Jay: “Though the addition, designed by Varick Street-based Paik Architecture, PLLC, will include two floors, it will read essentially as a single-story addition because the new sixth floor will be almost entirely below the cornice line. It will join rooftop additions constructed or under construction at the building’s two westerly neighbors.” —YIMBY