The daughter of a Russian billionaire has broken New York real estate records by paying $88 million for a huge Manhattan apartment, Forbes magazine reported.

Yekaterina Rybolovleva, daughter of former fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev, paid full asking price for the multiroom spread at 15 Central Park West.

This is a record for an individual transaction in a city renowned for pricey property. The record was previously owned by Sanford Weill, a former chairman of Citigroup.

A 40-story hotel development could be about to crown the emergence of one of New York’s formerly rough districts as one of the coolest places to be in the city.

Hotel developer Jon Lam is looking to construct a new hotel and retail emporium in the district known as NoMad, a district of Manhattan north of Madison Square Park.

The development could see a 30- to 40-story, 600-room property rise out of existing properties on 846 Avenue of the Americas and 1227 Broadway.

Gwyneth Paltrow, an award-winning actress, singer, author and style icon, will be the star of the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 fashion advertising campaign.

The campaign, which was shot by Peter Lindbergh on a Manhattahn rooftop, will be featured in Asia and Europe, including France, Spain, the U.K., Portugal, and China.

“I grew up in New York City and I’ve always thought of Coach as the quintessential New York brand,” the star said in a statement.

Global hotel chain Marriott, which operates 3,600 hotels around the world, has announced plans to build the tallest hotel in New York City.

The brand plans to build a new 68-story skyscraper on Manhattan’s 54th Street to house two hotels under the brands Courtyard by Marriott and Residence Inn.

The tower will be designed by Nobutaka Ashihara, an established New York architect who designed Lexington House Hotel, Hotel Indigo on 28th Street and Courtyard by Marriott Times Square, and is set to be 752 feet (229 meters) high.

Mondrian SoHo, Morgans Hotel Group’s third Mondrian and debut hotel property in downtown Manhattan, officially opened this week.

Morgans selected Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, the visionary behind the re-imagined Mondrian Los Angeles, to create Mondrian SoHo in collaboration with the company’s renowned in-house design team.

Noriega-Ortiz’s design for the hotel draws inspiration from Jean Coucteau’s 1946 romantic French fantasy film “La Belle et la Bête.”

New York‘s storied Chelsea Hotel, the classic haunt of artists and hell-raising performers, is for sale and, perhaps, so is its soul.

The 12-floor building with the neon sign “Hotel Chelsea” is a landmark in Manhattan thanks to its long list of famous residents.

Playwright Arthur Miller and singers Janis Joplin and Patti Smith were among those living there. Poet Dylan Thomas died there, as did Nancy, the girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious.