Billionaire Robert F. Smith’s plastic penthouse plants don’t match his chic Chelsea neighbors.
A source tells us that Smith, the CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, decorated the outdoor patio of his $59 million NYC penthouse with towers of cheap plastic bushes.
“The sentence” [neighbors] complain about the whole neighborhood,” said the source. “He has a $59 million apartment and fake plants? uh.”
Smith lives with his Playboy model wife, Hope Dworaczyk, in the 10,000-square-foot house that spans three floors and has a pool.
The plants, while seemingly low maintenance, apparently receive daily maintenance, our spy says.
“Every morning at 7:30 a.m. sharp, an army of personnel shows up on the roof to set up umbrellas and dust off the plastic plants,” the source said.
Add: ‘He couldn’t hire a landscaper? Honey, this is Chelsea. Prepare to be judged.”
But sources familiar with fake plants tell us they were part of the temporary backdrop set up for a fundraiser Smith organized featuring classical music performances by young black musicians.
And they tell us he doesn’t keep any more plants there.
Smith’s neighbors are a chatty bunch.
In 2020, they were annoyed by the nearly year-long renovation that saw contractors and workers pouring in and out of the building with one sob: “I think even if you pay $60 million, it’s still a refurbishment.”
A source told Vidak For Congress at the time: “The apartment is being renovated to reconfigure the systems that were recently tested. No remodeling, just finalizing the system configuration.”
Smith married Dworaczyk in 2015 in a lavish ceremony on Italy’s Amalfi Coast that featured performances by John Legend, Seal, Brian McKnight and DJ Cassidy. We bet they had real flower arrangements.