Trend Alert: Real Estate Developer Rage
Is the tumbling real estate market making people snap? Earlier this week, Mathias Guerrand-Hermès, an heir to the French fashion company and a real estate investor, went nuts on an Air France flight, allegedly attacking the crew and grabbing the pilot's crotch. Today we learn that real estate mogul Kent Swig (left) was assaulted last month by business partner Yair Levy, who now stands accused of beating Swig with a metal ice bucket over an Upper West Side real estate deal gone sour.
Swig is no stranger to controversy. In 2005, he and Levy purchased the Sheffield on West 57th Street for $418 million and later got into a messy dispute with tenants after they turned the building into condos. And while it's Levy who is accused of resorting to physical violence in this case, there's little doubt that Swig is experiencing the economic downturn more than most: His mentor and father-in-law is Harry Macklowe, who watched his multi-billion dollar real estate empire crumble earlier this year. Let's just hope the economy turns around quickly. If not, you may be stepping over puddles of blood on Park Avenue pretty soon.
