Russian Oligarch Tries Again in Greenwich
You may have heard about Russian mogul Valery Kogan and his wife Olga when they purchased a mansion in Greenwich for $18.5 million and then applied for permission to raze the house to build their 27,000-square-foot "dream home." In May Greenwich's planning commission denied the Kogans a permit following complaints from residents, who voiced concern that the mammoth manse would—gasp!—dwarf their own mansions and be a "vulgar" addition to the neighborhood. But Valery and Olga haven't given up on the dream. They resubmitted plans for a scaled-down version of the home just last week. And what exactly does "scaled-back" mean in rich Russian-speak? The new plan features 25 percent less square footage and just 15 bathrooms, down from the 26 they initially proposed. Alas, the revised application does not indicate if some of the other amenities they said they planned to install—like Turkish and Finnish bathing facilities and a "dog grooming room"—made the final cut.