Leona Helmsley would be turning over in her grave. The billion-dollar hotel operator and real estate investor known as the "Queen of Mean" for her treatment of employees had her once-beloved real estate company, Helmsley-Spear Inc., acquired by privately owned Swig Equities LLC on Monday.
Swig Equities' president Kent Swig becomes only the fourth owner of the company, which was formed in 1866. The company later came under control of builder Harry B. Helmsley in 1955 until his death in 1997. His wife Leona went into a long drawn-out legal battle with the Schneider family, who eventually gained majority of the company. Swig Equities already has a presence in New York and San Francisco, with more than 4 million square feet of office space in those cities. The firm also owns and operates around 1,200 luxury apartments in New York.
As for Helmsley-Spear's role in Swig's empire, "Helmsley-Spear will be repositioned and expanded and will operate as an independent affiliate company as part of the Swig Equities organization," Swig explains in a Globe St. article. "In order to reposition and expand Helmsley-Spear, we shall be undertaking a major capital program, which will include new office space, new computers, new software technology, new telephones, new marketing and collateral materials, and new policies and procedures." — Gerald Magpily
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