NEW RESIDENTIAL TOWER UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN FIDI
Yimby reports that excavation and pilings are underway at 111 Washington at the corner of Carlisle (aka 8 Carlisle), the site of a 64-story residential tower being developed by Carlisle New York Apartments. “The 712-foot-tall structure will yield 326,221 square feet with 462 residential units, 7,000 square feet of commercial space, and a 60-foot-long rear yard.” The site has been idle for years. The sign now says completed by 2026.

A REFUGE FOR RAFAEL VINOLY
The Times has a feature on the West Broadway loft that the late architect Rafael Viñoly used as a private studio. It is owned by his son, Tribecan Roman Viñoly, and is now on the market. From the Times: “He could draw there, watch soccer matches and play the piano for hours,” Roman said of the apartment at 137 West Broadway, above Spiral XYZ. “It’s a very small community,” Roman said of the four-unit building with a ground-floor commercial tenant, “and we all look after each other.”

THE ART OF BIBI LENCEK
The Trib covered a retrospective of longtime Tribecan and noted painter Bibi Lenček, organized by her family at One Art Space since Lenček, 76, suffers from advanced Lewy bodies dementia. The work explores sexuality, and when it was first exhibited in the 1970s, caused a stir. “I prefer to describe the eroticism of my work as ‘sensual,’” Lenček wrote in a 1979 artist’s statement. “I paint the nude and semi-nude couple as part of an ordinary domestic setting, where limbs, robes, tissue boxes, bed sheets, and wall plugs mingle in an awkward, humorous, as well as tender relationship.”

TALKING FINANCES WITH BUBBY’S
Bubby’s owner Ron Silver talks about the restaurant’s ability to staff its restaurant — Ron says he pays more than most restaurants — and how he’s kept his employees, in some cases, for decades. He said the key is flexibility and respecting employees’ non-wokring lives. He said he has had to raise prices, but he has tried to keep Bubby’s from turning into fine dining price point. Thanks to the increase of prices on chocolate, coffee and meat, to name a few, he figures check prices are up 5 or 6 percent from pre-pandemic. He also said that in-person dining is up 40 percent from pre-pandemic levels!