Leona Helmsley Trust Sheds Two Manhattan Properties

The estate holding the assets of the one-time hotelier and reputed Queen of Mean Leona Helmsley sold two properties on Manhattan's East Side on Oct. 1, according to city records.

The properties in question are a ground-floor 4,178-square-foot retail condominium at 760 Third Avenue and the nearby 144 East 48th Street, a 114,500-square-foot apartment building between Third and Lexington avenues. A partnership with principals in Mamaroneck and Los Angeles bought the two properties for a combined $41.6 million. Neither the partnership nor the trust's spokesman Howard Rubenstein responded to requests for comment by press time.

While $41.6 million is a lot of money, it's a mere drop in the $8 billion ocean estimated to be the size of the Helmsley estate.

Helmsley died in August 2007, at age 87. At least one other attempt by the trust to liquidate the late Helmsley’s real estate assets foundered in the credit crunch.  Last year, the trust tried to sell the Park Lane Hotel, only to later withdraw it from the market. 

drubinstein@observer.com