CROWN SHY GETS A-OK FROM TIMES
Pete Wells at the Times gushes over Crown Shy (except for the name – which I kinda like!). (Here’s the Citizen link, FYI.) A sample: “An almost absurdly creamy purée of white bean hummus under a fiery red slick of melted ’nduja is probably meant to be shared, but as soon as I’d tasted it I came up with other ideas, as my dinner guests will testify.”

BIG (BAD?) EVENT SPACE AT BROOKFIELD
The Broadsheet has a recap of the CB1 BPC meeting where members warned about the problems when Convene, an events venue planned for the old Saks space, starts booking gigs: “Ms. Meltzer countered that more than 100 cars converging on the cul-de-sac at Liberty Street and South End Avenue within the space of an hour will result, ‘in cars backing up not only on Liberty Street, but also onto West Street,’ and predicted that this would not only slow traffic, but also create a safety hazard for pedestrians. ‘So you’re going need to have crossing guards and people directing traffic.’”

ALOFT HOTEL BREAKING GROUND IN FIDI
From New York Yimby: “Excavation work is underway at 50 Trinity Place in the Financial District, where a ground-up, 28-story Aloft Hotel will soon rise. The upcoming reinforced concrete building will yield 173 rooms and 77,310 square feet of newly built space. Plans also call for a ground-floor restaurant adjacent to the lobby, as well as a fitness center on the second floor and seven to eight rooms per floor up to the last occupiable level. Peter Poon Architects is the designer of the tower while FIT Investment Corporation is the developer. The site was previously purchased for $15 million from Sam Chang in 2012.”