• A developer is demanding volunteers pay $1M if they want to keep their community garden. [NYP]
• The Sultan of Brunei is hotel shopping in NYC and London and is reported to have has his eyes set on The Plaza. [WSJ]
• A campaign to build a light rail system on Staten Island has been relaunched—nearly 10 years after the idea was first pitched. [DNA Info]
• Celebrated sculptor Alexander Ney, 74, is being evicted from his home after his landlord lied to him about his rent-stabilized status. Ney’s family is frantically trying to get everything out of the apartment before officials come to seize the property. [Gothamist]
• Three contaminated Bronx properties will be cleaned up and rebuilt as affordable housing with the help of $300,000 in federal grants and loans. [Crain’s]
• Are open plans losing their appeal? Frank Lloyd Wright is rolling over in his grave right now. [NYO]

An open plan apartment at Seven Harisson (left); The Sultan of Brunei (right)

When we think of Tommy Hilfiger we might imagine him in an all-American, red-white-and-blue outfit, standing in a nautical seashore cottage, but his penthouse at the Plaza couldn’t be any more the opposite than this vision. Instead of paintings of beach scenes there are Basquiats and Warhols (20 of the latter, to be exact); rather than white-washed walls there are entire rooms clad in marble; and instead of simple, shabby chic bedrooms there are opulent personal retreats that could fit entire NYC apartments within their footprint.

In short, Mr. Hilfiger’s city residence is nothing short of regal. He and his wife Dee Ocleppo purchased and combined three separate units in 2008, and they then embarked on a massive renovation of the duplex to emulate the old-world style of the landmarked building.

Take a tour through this magnificent home and see if the couple lived up to goal