It’s sure true that 2022 is not off to the best start, and we are all weary of dealing with this virus, coming up on two years. But still, there are some things to celebrate on the horizon. The trend I have noticed this past year is so many neighbors took advantage of the lockdown to start businesses they had been germinating but never found the time to launch. Watch for more “Made in Tribeca” features.

And while I haven’t done the empty storefront count still, we know 100 businesses closed in the past two years and 32 opened, so there are opportunities out there. Even in the past two weeks, some storefronts have been filled in. 

So, here’s what’s in the pipeline.

A CROP OF NEW RESTAURANTS
The restaurant formerly known as Racines is in cocoon phase, and its same owners will reveal a new restaurant there soon. The Tribeca stalwarts at Estancia 460 have taken the lease for the space next door, formerly The Greek, and plan to make it a more casual bar/quick bite spot that dovetails with the restaurant. Daniel Boulud has taken the lease of Augustine, Keith McNally’s gorgeous space in the Beekman hotel. Marc Forgione will leave his eponymous restaurant on Reade and take over the former Brushstroke space on Hudson and Duane.

The brothers who run the Grand Banks and Drift In have taken the space under Bluestone Lane that was Holy Ground. Sushi of Gari has been renovated after months of closure; I will get in there soon to check it out. I hope plans for the Ecco! space on Chambers are not dead…

There’s a restaurant planned for the Walker Hotel. I am hoping the J&R Music Lounge by City Winery from Tribecan Michael Dorf will be revived, David Bouley had plans to come back to the neighborhood to open a new iteration of Bouley at Home crossed with private dining on Harrison Street. Plans laid out in April call for a 3500-square-foot farm-to-table upscale Mexican restaurant at the corner of Greenwich and N. Moore, and I have heard through the grapevine that it is coming along (hard to see past the paper on the windows).

File Gumbo Bar is in the works in the former Da Mikele space on Church. And Fonda, a well-established Mexican restaurant that has two other locations, should be ready soon at the former Blaue Gans space on Duane. Casa Carmen, anoher upscale Mexican straight out of Mexico City, has started work in the former Tutto il Giorno space on Franklin. And a Tribecan is converting the former Dig Inn space into a fine dining restaurant called L’Abeille with a Joël Robuchon chef at the helm. Nearby, Blue Bottle coffee has dibs on the corner space on Greenwich and Hubert that for a while looked like it was going to be a Dr Smood’s.

I’d love to think Café Clementine will finally be able to open on the corner of Greenwich and Duane. It’s a saga. Next door, Chip City — a local cookie chain — will take over the former eyeglass shop. The PF Chang’s To Go outlet on Chambers is coming along. The whole building might be getting a facelift. And Reade Street Pub is under construction as another pub. And there’s a sushi takeout coming to the old Bliss Bowl space on Greenwich.

Further downtown, in the Seaport, Jean-Georges Vongerichten will open a food court in the restored Tin Building this year. The team at Crown Shy already opened SAGA (I have yet to get there) but as the pandemic loosens its grip, they will expand their offerings on the upper floors of 70 Pine.

ENTERTAINMENT
Howard Hughes has taken over the space that was 10 Corso Como and is converting it into The Lawn Club, which will have indoor lawn games with food prepared by the donut expert (among other things) Wylie Dufresne.

WAYS TO RAISE ELBOWS
At the start of 2021, there were plans afoot to revive a jazz club in the Bogardus Mansion, as well as a proposal for a tavern at the former Schoolhouse Electric space. CB1 rejected plans for an upscale tavern in the former Saks space in Brookfield; hopefully the plan will proceed anyway. Those may be dead now, but are still worth watching. The founder of the Dirty Lemon beverage tech company wants to open a lounge at 293 Church, but neighbors have been fighting it. Still, it is renovated and nearly ready to go. The new subterranean bar at the Walker Hotel is open, though it closed over the holidays for omicron.

NEW BUILDINGS TO BE UNVEILED
The hotel at 456 Greenwich should open in May or so, along with its three restaurants. The Firmdale hotel at 86 Warren has sprouted after months of delays. The last of the old J&R buildings — 1 Park Row — started demolition. As of last year, plans for 11 Hubert were finally approved by the Landmarks Commission, a 100-year-old parking garage on N. Moore will be converted to offices, and 67 Vestry at West Street is scheduled to be finished this year.

NEW BUILDINGS HOPEFULLY NEVER TO BE UNVEILED
Construction for the borough-based jail proposed for White Street can move forward, but hopefully it won’t.

SERVICES + SHOPPING
The neighborhood now has three members-only social clubs: The Wonder, the Nexus Club and the newly opened Cocoon. Highcourt, a social and fitness club in more of a mid-price range aimed at the millennials with fitness studios, has been renovating an entire building on Broadway south of Walker; I hope it is still in the works. The space that was China Blue on Watts and Washington is scheduled to be a private dining club called Maxwell Social. MedRite took a space on Chambers for covid testing, but it is also taking the entire Acappella space at Bogardus Plaza for a clinic similar to CityMD.

The designer Nacho Polo has taken the gorgeous space at Church and Leonard– formerly Matsugen — for a store and showroom TK this quarter. Greenwich St. Jewelers, which has been a stalwart in Fidi for 40 years as a family-owned business, is moving to Reade this year. Construction just started.

Mandarin Seeds has taken the lease on Reade and Broadway in the former basement workout space for The Wat for a preschool. Erika Bloom Pilates will open on Franklin. And the Coder School should have its tech program for kids open by second quarter of the year.

MORE PUBLIC OPEN SPACES
The playground at Pier 26 is underway, with construction to start this year. The Battery’s new playground just opened, so I am adding it here as a visit you have yet to make. The Bank of New York Mellon plans to improve the plaza on Murray and West, where the Citi Bike station is now, as well as the streetscape on Greenwich and Murray around its building perimeter. (The story is not that simple, but go back to the post if you want more info.)

And Bogardus Plaza is scheduled to get a kiosk on the southern end near the clock, operated by a yet-to-be-announced local company.

Governors Island is now open year round, so get your cross country skis ready for the next snowfall. And still coming: a completed 26 Federal Plaza, a ridiculous five-year project to repair the underground parking lot that has cost the neighborhood that sidewalk along Broadway for two blocks.

BIG ACTION AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER
Silverstein and Brookfield will develop a 900-foot-tall building with 1300+ residential units for 5 World Trade Center on the south side of Liberty Park; 25 percent of the units will be affordable, though neighbors and electeds are fighting for more. The design for 2 WTC, which will dominate the view down Greenwich Street, has switched from Norman Foster to BIG back to Foster again. The arts center is coming along. And Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is in the final stretch — after 20 years — and will be finished soon??

CULTURE HIGH AND LOW
Anish Kapoor’s silver blob should soon be revealed as its true shiny self at 56 Leonard after a couple years of construction and even more years of waiting. An interactive theater called Sleep No More just got its liquor license approvals despite pushback from Fidi neighbors. Another entertainment venue is planned for 49 Chambers, but more on that later. And finally the Perelman Performing Arts Center should have its exterior finished soon (see above) though the center will not be open to the public until 2023.

CONSTRUCTION ON THE STREETS
I am knocking on wood as I type this, but here’s hoping that the city finishes the last stretch of Worth Street before more people are forced to move off that block. And, I saved this for the end since it’s not something anyone looks forward to, still, it should be on your radar. The Department of Design and Construction will begin work soon on stretches of Greenwich and West Broadway.