••• New York mag’s Daily Intel blog recaps the school-zoning battle. I was reading the comments—which are entertaining—when I saw with horror that someone is calling him/herself Tribeca Citizen. ‘Tis not I!

••• Looking for fresh reasons to hate the Verizon building? “The city is suing Verizon, and the real estate company that bought its building, Taconic Investment Partners, for $53 million. That’s the amount the city claims it lost as a result of a deal with the telecom giant back in 1972, when (as the New York Telephone Co.) Verizon bought city-owned land and air rights for its 32-story switching center. The agreement called for the phone company to give the city $17 million and to build Murry Bergtraum High School. But, the city says, New York Telephone built far more usable space—1.2 million square feet—than it said it would, thereby undervaluing the deal and shortchanging taxpayers.” (Tribeca Trib)

••• The new design for the boathouse to be built on Pier 26 has room for 228 kayaks, up from 192 in the initial plan. The space came from the bar area of the restaurant that will also be in the boathouse. (Tribeca Trib)

••• “On Dec. 23, Housing Court Judge Bruce Scheckowitz ruled that a market-rate apartment in 37 Wall St. should be rent-stabilized because the building’s owner is receiving a 421-g tax break. In an echo of the Stuyvesant Town case from earlier last year, the owner of 37 Wall St. said the apartment did not have to be stabilized because the rent was over $2,000, but Scheckowitz ruled that it should be stabilized anyway. His opinion opens the door for tenants in other 421-g buildings to file similar suits. […] At least 16 rental buildings below Murray St., with a total of nearly 5,000 units, are currently receiving 421-g abatements and could be affected by the ruling, including 90 West St., 63 Wall St. and 200 Water St.” (Downtown Express)

••• Park Place is temporarily paved, but buses will still be diverted up to Warren (between Church and Broadway) until the permanent roadway is finished in the spring. (LMCCC)

••• Jeff Zimmerman’s exhibit at R 20th Century has been extended through the end of the month. Check it out—it’s really cool.

••• The New York Times’s City Room blog profiles Tribeca artist Joan Greenberg, who breaks china and then pieces it back together as art.

••• Also in the Times: Interior designer Alexandra Champalimaud shops at Espasso and Art et Maison.

••• Robert DeNiro’s Greenwich Hotel makes TripAdvisor.com’s list of Top 10 Celebrity Owned Hotels. Said one guest: “We stopped by the drawing room for coffee and were surprised to see that Mel Gibson chose to do the same at the table next to us.” Full disclosure: I work for TripAdvisor.

••• Two sales on Blockshopper: “Vilas Kuchinad and Allison Tierney bought condo Unit #2 at 465 Greenwich St. from Lisa Fox for $1.3 million on Nov. 23. Kuchinad is vice president of life finance group at Credit Suisse in New York.” And: “Ron Yakir and Hisayo Hagiwara bought a condo at 96 Reade St. in Tribeca from Kimberly Pittman for $875,000 on Dec. 11. Hagiwara is a principal at KILO, a Japanese business communications and marketing research company in New York.”

••• Karkula now carries furniture by IZM: “Designers Jerad Mack and Shane Pawlukchavez, who won Interior Design‘s 2009 Best of the Year Award, have created a collection of contemporary hardwood furniture evoking the low horizons and warm earth tones of the Albertian countryside.”

••• Little Gem at the Flea gets a good review from the New York Times.