••• “After a three-month downtown search, Justin Timberlake has signed a contract for the $7.65 million, three-bedroom, 2,598-square-foot penthouse condo at Soho Mews on West Broadway. He also listed his Tribeca pad yesterday for $5.25 million. Sources tell us he was weary of paparazzi who’ve lined the block waiting for him and gal pal Jessica Biel. His Tribeca home, in the Pearline Soap Factory on Washington Street, is a charming three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot pad, but the building only has a part-time doorman and was not private enough for Timberlake. And his new home comes with parking.” (New York Post)

••• “More than a dozen projects long dreamed for lower Manhattan, including a performing arts center at the World Trade Center, could become a reality thanks to a new $150 million grant program from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The LMDC unveiled a wishlist for the money—which was left over from a federal post-9/11 rebuilding fund—at a board meeting Wednesday morning, including plans for the arts center, affordable housing, small business incentives, new parks and a new pedestrian bridge over West Street. ‘This will have a huge impact,’ said City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, an LMDC board member.” (DNAinfo)

••• Eater reports that Danny Meyer’s BPC restaurants got CB1 committee approval: “The opening time frame is a year, year and a half for the still unnamed upscale ‘signature restaurant,’ Labor Day 2011 for Blue Smoke, and April/May 2011 for Shake Shack BPC (they hope). Eater operatives [a.k.a. interns] on the scene pressed for details on the concept for the signature restaurant, but they weren’t prepared to discuss/disclose it.”

••• Interior designer Katie Lydon fake-shopped for trays for the New York Times, stopping at Just Scandinavian and Mondo Cane.

••• “[Lady] Gaga, who’s been on an extensive downtown apartment search, just visited a $14.95 million Tribeca penthouse at 33 Vestry St., the nine-story, seven-unit building designed by Winka Dubbeldam.
Gaga […] seemed to be gaga over the 4,062-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bathroom apartment with five fireplaces. The unit also has 3,487 square feet of outdoor space, with a private roof deck and a 16-by-8-foot infinity pool.” (New York Post)

••• “Approximately 75 very senior seniors, average age 88, residing in the Battery Park City Hallmark senior residence, protested the Afghan war last Saturday in the park adjoining their building on North End Avenue. In wheelchairs and clutching canes and walkers, the elderly protesters circled the park several times for an hour until their legs gave out, chanting anti-war slogans and carrying colorful signs.” I was going to poke fun, but they’re doing more than I ever have. (Downtown Express)

••• This letter ran in today’s Broadsheet Daily: “I am a long-time BPC resident who has multiple myeloma which resulted from exposure to the toxic carcinogens of 9/11. After a long and painful treatment including a bone marrow transplant, I have survived this cancer. There is a surge of peripheral blood cancers including multiple myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma. These are slow moving cancers, especially myeloma, and can take years to manifest, which is happening now. I’m seeking contact with other people in our area with similar circumstances. My goal is to file a class action suit helpful to us all. Confidentiality will be maintained. Please respond to mmyelomabpc@gmail.com.”

••• “Police have released a surveillance clip of two men wanted in connection with the shooting death of 21-year-old Max Moreno in Lower Manhattan late last month.” (Tribeca Trib)

••• The Michelin ratings are out. Of local note: Corton still has two stars (out of three), Bouley, Marc Forgione and SHO Shaun Hergatt have one. I find it hard to get excited about Michelin—how can The Modern get only one star? It’s equivalent to Casa Mono? To Dressler? (Eater)

••• Curbed recaps the story of 279 Broadway (the L-shaped building at Reade that’s finally going up). The green glass really is unfortunate.