Ralph Lauren has opened the doors to a palatial store last month on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. It is built as an extension of the Polo flagship across the street at the Rhinelander Mansion.

The 22,000-sq-.ft. store, reminiscent of the grand Beaux-Arts architecture of the early 20th Century, is dedicated to Lauren’s Women’s and Home collections.

The boutique offers a made-to-measure department for bespoke tailored pieces, an on-site custom monogramming department and a fine jewelry boutique.

City authorities on Wednesday approved plans to build a 67-floor skyscraper near New York City’s tallest structure, the Empire State Building, over objections from owners of the iconic landmark.

The full city council overwhelmingly approved the project in a 47-1 vote. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already voiced support for the building.

The new skyscraper, currently named 15 Penn Plaza and designed by the architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, will go up two blocks from the Empire State building and across the street from Penn Station, a major bus and rail hub.

Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban have splashed out $10million on a luxurious Manhattan penthouse apartment, into which they can drive their car.

Kidman and Urban’s new pad in Chelsea comes with an ‘en suite Sky Garage’, a car elevator that will let them take their limo all the way up to the 6th floor.

The building, which has stunning Hudson River views, is the first in New York City to get the feature, the Dailymail reports.

American-Indian entrepreneur Sant Singh Chatwal has opened the first hotel in a new chain of luxury properties he hopes will become a global brand.

The Chatwal New York opened August 8 in a landmark 1905 building designed by Stanford White in New York City and is the only member of the Leading Hotels of the World in the Manhattan theater district.

The new property has been designed by Thierry Despont to offer “contemporary luxuries and ultra-modern technology” in a 1930s Deco design environment.

InterContinental opened its much-anticipated New York property in the heart of Manhattan July 12, the latest in a string of high-profile openings for the city.

The firm says that along with being the largest new-build hotel to open in the city since 2002, the 607-room InterContinental is also one of the most environmentally responsible hotels in the city.

It will be the largest new hotel in the city to receive the LEED green building certification from the US Green Building Council.

The Trump SoHo New York is set to open April 9, signaling the Trump group’s determination to continue building a name for itself with ultra-luxury travelers.

The collection, run by Donald Trump and three of his children, currently boasts just four properties in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Waikiki.

The Trump SoHo, a 46-storey, 391-room glass tower in the center of downtown Manhattan, may be the most impressive property in the portfolio so far.

And the group isn’t finished yet ! Later this year, it will open a new property in Panama, before expanding into Canada in 2011.