The New York Observer » Leona Helmsley http://www.observer.com Just another WordPress site Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:24:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Howard Rubenstein: Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Recipient Manhattan real estate moguls talk about his “Solomonic wisdom,” according to The New York Times.

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called him the “dean of damage control.” His public relations firm, Rubenstein Associates, once simultaneously represented both Leona Helmsley and Donald Trump.

So it’s no exaggeration to say that nothing of importance happens in New York City without somehow involving Howard J. Rubenstein.

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]]> http://www.observer.com/2012/01/howard-rubenstein-harry-b-helmsley-distinguished-new-yorker-recipient/ In Memoriam: Trouble Helmsley   What will they say of you now, Trouble! Dead upon your gilded pillow The millions they did double But this Maltese they could not save.   So go then, Trouble, to the Elysian doggy fields, Where bones are thrown, (The Queen of Mean awaits you there alone.) And only the little people pay taxes, Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/06/in-memoriam-trouble-helmsley/ In Deed! Helmsley Estate at 70 Percent Off; A Failed Flip on Central Park North; Bovis Big Buys on East 80th  -- The big deal of the day (or should we say Big Deal) is that the massive Helmsley mansion in Greenwich has finally sold, albeit at a considerable discount. From an original price of $125 million in 2008 -- a year after Leona Helmsley died at the 40-acre property -- to a most Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/deed-helmsley-estate-70 In Deed! Leona’s Lair Sells at Discount; Frasier Wants Out of 15 CPW - The Post dealt some real estate gossip blows this morning, announcing that "Queen of Mean" Leona Helmsley's Greenwich mansion is rumored to be sold--finally, after three years on the market--but for less than half its $125 million price tag. The 26-room mansion has been called a fixer-upper which might have something to Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/deed-leonas-lair-sells-discount-frasier-wants-out-15-cpw Swig Shutters Helmsley Spear Brokerage Kent Swig is shutting down the Helmsley Spear brokerage, according to a broker who attended a Friday meeting at about 3 p.m., at which the announcement was made.

Steven Kerschenbaum, executive vice president of Swig Equities, Mr. Swig's property investment and management firm, made the announcement, while Mr. Swig toyed with his PDA, according to our source.

"What really bothers me, really bothers me, is Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/swig-shutters-helmsley-spear-brokerage Leona Helmsley Trust Sheds Two Manhattan Properties 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 Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/leona-helmsley-trust-discards-two-manhattan-properties Exorcising Leona From the Helmsley Hotel She Made Famous The New York Helmsley Hotel, that 775-room inn trapped in a design hell of 1980s Greed-Is-Good glamour, is getting a face-lift, one to obliterate many of the fingerprints of the late Queen of Mean herself, Leona Helmsley.

While you still can, walk through the revolving doors of 212 East 42nd Street and step into the hotel’s Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/leona-checks-out-helmsley-hotel A Whiff of Woof: Leona Helmsley’s Dog-Entrusted Bro Buys $2 M. Co-op Leona Helmsley, an icon of ’80s-era superciliousness and a glowing tribute to the timeless Manhattan id, died two years ago of heart failure at age 87, but her legacy lived on. Her will excluded two grandchildren (“for reasons which are known to them”) but set aside $12 million for Trouble, her 8-year-old white Maltese. The Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/whiff-woof-leona-helmsley-s-dog-entrusted-bro-buys-2-m-co-op The Late Leona’s Dog Will Live Large [UPDATED] Bronx mausoleum.

Mr. Rosenthal, for his part, got millions from his late sister, and two Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/late-leonas-dog-will-live-large Leona’s ‘Rattlesnake’ Eulogizes the ‘Queen of Mean’ The reports are in from the funeral of Leona Helmsley, which was attended by about 150 people--an invite-only crowd of colleagues, employees and family members. It's no surprise this was not like lying in state; the so-called 'Queen of Mean' was the sworn enemy of many in New York's real-estate elite, not least of all Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/leonas-rattlesnake-eulogizes-queen-mean Leona Helmsley, ‘Queen of Mean,’ Dies at 87

Helmsley and her husband Harry, whom she married in 1972, amassed a New York City real estate empire that eventually included the Empire State Building, Tudor City and 230 Park Avenue. Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/leona-helmsley-queen-mean-dies-87 Greenwich In a Snit In a part of Greenwich where giant mansions are the rule, locals seem to want to set a limit: With plans calling for almost 39,000 square feet in the main building, plus an 1,165-square-foot pool house, the home that Joseph M. Jacobs, a 53-year-old hedge fund manager, wants to build for his family on Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2006/03/greenwich-in-a-snit/ Hey, Renée–Where’s the Funeral? Undertaker Chic at Golden Globes I can't help myself. After all, I'm only human. Like any right-thinkin' New Yorker, I am hopelessly caught in the thrall of hell-raising hotelier Leona Helmsley. Especially after last week's Leathergate down at the Manhattan Supreme Court.

Who amongst us was not riveted by the torrent of sordidrevelations that poured forth duringthegay-biastrial, wherein La Helmsley Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2003/01/hey-renewheres-the-funeral-undertaker-chic-at-golden-globes/