••• A reader sent in two photos of the partially unveiled 440 Washington (a.k.a. 31 Desbrosses). “Does it look cheap?” I asked, thinking it does. The reply: “It looks better than Truffles but that is a very low bar.”

••• I heard from someone at Takeshi Sushi, the restaurant taking the former Ato space: “We are a group of young entrepreneurs new to the restaurant industry [i.e., no relation to Ato],” said one of the folks involved in Takeshi. And they should be ready to open in a month or so.

••• Downtown Alliance’s annual Adopt-a-Plant event is this Friday at Bowling Green. One free Dragon’s Breath (celosia) plant per person.

••• The Scanlan Theodore women’s fashion boutique at 42 Hudson (where Shoofly was) is open. Full report to come.

••• “The chicken place on the corner of Greenwich and Duane has soaped-up windows (or whatever they use to make it hard to take a peek in,” says S. “Wondering if someone’s getting something going.” I suspect so. A month or two ago, the owner of Tribeca’s Cornerstone was cleaning out the space…. Anyone know what’s coming?