••• From Fast Company (which is based at 7 World Trade, btw): “A new lounge bar in a downtown Manhattan hotel doubles as a showroom for Spanish design, producing an ultra-sexy environment that owes more to Salvador Dalí than to hokey taprooms. Salon features work by 16 Spanish blue-chip manufacturers, from Nani Marquina to Lladró. Freshly installed at the Tribeca Grand last month, it was dreamed up by Surface magazine and designed by the New York architect Winka Dubbeldam, who drew her inspiration from Spanish surrealism. ‘Creating an air of Long Island coke den mystique and allure was key,’ she said. And you can’t have ‘mystique and allure’ without Dalí’s lip sofas.”

••• From DNAinfo: “Thousands of artists living in illegal lofts from Tribeca to the Bronx”—the wha? oh that—”won sweeping new protections this week from Albany lawmakers. The state Assembly and Senate voted to make permanent the Loft Law, which protects loft tenants from unfair rent hikes and eviction. The legislature also extended the law to protect tenants in hundreds of additional commercial and manufacturing buildings across the city. […] The new Loft Law dramatically expands the protections to anyone who lived in a commercial loft for 12 months in 2008 or 2009. That means thousands of artists living in factories and warehouses from Brooklyn to the Bronx could now become rent-stabilized.”

••• From Curbed: “Just a few days after the first two sales closed at the secretive Trump Soho, a group of 16 buyers in the condo-hotel want out, with their deposits back (plus interest!). Why? Powerhouse attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, representing the buyers, tells us the problem is all those inflated sales claims, which pegged the number of units sold at way over the actual 16 percent figure. The buyers say the rumored sales stats led them to enter into contract in the first place, so the condo plan only became effective thanks to fraud.”

••• From the Real Deal: “Alexander Wang, who just won the ®®®Swarovski®®® Accessories Designer of the Year award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, bought a one-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at 39 Worth Street in Tribeca for $2 million, the Observer reported. The space, which previously belonged to former New York Times styles editor Holly Brubach, boasts tin ceilings, mullioned windows and a roof deck. The floor plan includes an open dining/living room, an office and a master bedroom with a chef’s kitchen featuring industrial stainless steel and hardwood with a double-wall oven and Gaggenau cooktop. Dennis Mangone of Brown Harris Stevens has the listing.” (The ®s are mine. Feeling feisty today!)

••• From Curbed: “Is Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower the most eagerly anticipated NYC rental building of all time?” LOL! “It’s certainly the flashiest, and with the rippling skyscraper now hogging the Lower Manhattan skyline (without the aid of medical science!), we’re wondering when these 900 slices of starchitecture will hit the market. A Curbed tipster writes we’re one winter away: ‘Forest City Ratner has selected Citi Habitats to lease, Nancy Packes as marketing consultant and co-op as the advertising agency for Beekman Tower. Kick off meeting on Monday and leasing to commence early spring 2011.’ According to a Forest City Ratner rep, leasing will begin in the first quarter of 2011, but that’s all the developer will confirm.”

Update: Comments have been turned off due to spam. To have them turned back on, email tribecacitizen@gmail.com.