LESS WHITE, LESS MODERN ON LISPENARD
CityLand reports that the new building proposed for the corner of Church and Lispenard has been approved by the Landmarks Commission originally for being too white and too modern: “At the November 12 public hearing, David Gross of GF55 Architects presented the modified design for the building. In the modified design, the front façade’s color was toned down and changed from white to limestone. The horizontal bands were replaced with horizontal reveals carved into the building. Gross stated that the framing of the building was changed to have more symmetry and the height of the building’s base was increased to make the building appear wider at the base.”

VINOLY BUILDING ON GREENWICH NEARLY COMPLETE
“Work is almost entirely complete on the reflective curtain wall of 125 Greenwich Street, number 14 in [New York Yimby’s] countdown of the tallest projects under construction in New York City. The only sections awaiting façade work are the podium and the portion where the exterior hoist is still mounted. Designed by Rafael Viñoly and developed by Bizzi & Partners and Vector Group, the slender 88-story residential skyscraper stands 912 feet tall over the Financial District.

MOTHER CABRINI COMING TO BPC
Because I can’t resist quoting The Tablet, the Brooklyn and Queens Roman Catholic Diocese’s newspaper that has been around since 1908: “St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s statue will be built in Battery Park City on a spot facing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, a fitting place for the Italian-American saint, known as the ‘patroness of immigrants.’ The Dec. 13 announcement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo came months after campaigning by local Catholics for a public monument for Mother Cabrini. The funding and construction of the $750,000 project is being overseen by the Mother Cabrini Memorial Commission, a 19-member committee that includes Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, John Heyer of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Italian apostolate and Joseph Sciame, president of the Sons of Italy Foundation.”

INSIDE THE TREE BUSINESS
Inside Edition interviews the Scott Lechner, who founded the Christmas tree vendor SoHo Trees in 1982 and now has eight locations in the city.