••• Not sure why the folks at Aesop bothered taping a piece of paper over the sign at 138 W. Broadway. We already knew the store was coming, and obviously anyone even remotely prone to snooping was going to lift it for a peek. (Later, they made it more secure.) The company is on quite an expansion kick: We’ll soon have Aesop beauty stores in Soho (W. Broadway and Prince), one in Tribeca, and one in the World Trade Center mall.

••• Yesterday morning, around 8 a.m., an extraordinary amount of water was gushing from the 111 Murray construction site into the sewer grate. I’ve seen this happen there before, also on a Sunday morning, which lead me to think it’s intentional—but I’ve never seen it at another construction site. Any guesses?

••• The very interesting single-family home under construction at 187 Franklin is starting to take shape. Look closely (try enlarging the photo) and you can catch a glimpse of the undulating brick façade and crescent-shaped windows.

••• The Seaport is getting a new bar: Artist’s Loft opens this Thursday at 181 Front St., on that pedestrian-only block with the TKTS outpost. From the website: “Artist’s Loft is a new bar and restaurant […] featuring a full gallery of paintings from local New York City artists. With our streets closed to traffic you can enjoy a relaxing day in our outdoor beer garden area, or join us inside and be immersed in a creative space with a friendly neighborhood vibe. We envision a bar that will be a collective for all things art ranging from live music, performance, and sculpture. With decades of combined experience as passionate bartenders, the owners are hands on operators and will be personally making your drinks and ensuring quality service.” As you can see from the photo below, the art is on the ceiling.

••• Et voilà. (Thanks to Brigette Roth Smith for the photo.)

••• In the absence of any activity, I’ve removed the The Wayfarer (which had designs on the former Dean’s space at 349 Greenwich) from the Future Openings list in the left column.