Embattled real estate developer Kent Swig is on the hunt for a new office, again, after allegedly failing to pay nearly half a million in rent on the headquarters of his luxury firm, Helmsley Spear.
Swig was once part of a vast New York real estate dynasty as the son-in-law of legendary developer Harry Macklowe, as well as the grandson of Benjamin H. Swig, and he owned commercial property giant Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property.
But Kent was battered by the 2008 crisis, had a brutal divorce with Liz Macklowe — and claimed that Harry was bent on taking him down after the split.
Now we hear that on June 2, the property titan was evicted from his Midtown office space at 747 Third Avenue. A source familiar with the incident told us a, “[city marshal] came in and physically booted them out, and their stuff is still stuck in the office.”
To make matters worse, we hear Swig was notified the day before and kept his employees in the dark. “There are like 50 employees. The [city marshal] came in at noon and told them they have 30 minutes to pack their stuff before they padlock the place,” the source said. (Kent denies it was sprung on employees).
Swig moved the headquarters of his real estate company to the location in 2024, two years after he was sued for allegedly not paying rent at a previous location. In that case, investment firm Lincoln International sought more than $342 million in missed payments at 444 Madison Avenue, according to Commercial Observer.
This time, we’re told he allegedly owes over $450,000. Swig didn’t address the figure when we reached out on Monday, but described the account of what transpired during last week’s eviction as “inaccurate” via a spokesperson for Helmsley Spear.
“We were engaged in good-faith negotiations with the sublandlord to resolve this matter. However, the sublandlord never responded to my final proposal, abruptly ended discussions, and proceeded with moving forward to move us out of our space,” they said.
The spokesperson confirmed the company was only given 24 hours’ warning, but disputed that employees were left in the dark. “We immediately notified all staff and provided them time to gather their files and personal belongings,” they said.
“Had we known earlier that the sublandlord intended to move about rather than continue negotiations, we would have moved out in a more orderly process,” they added.
Swig, whose real estate empire includes Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property, suffered several business misfortunes from the 2008 recession that he doesn’t seem to have been able to fully recover from. During his messy divorce from Macklowe, he accused her real estate titan father of pulling the strings and trying to financially destroy him.
The divorce battle forced Swig to give up his $22 million apartment at 740 Park Avenue, which was once dubbed the richest building in America. In 2025, Crains New York reported he was facing foreclosure on a Tribeca development after defaulting on three mortgages backed by the project. Despite the neverending lawsuits and financial setbacks, Swig somehow remains in the game. He currently has his eyes set on reviving Greenport in Long Island’s North Fork, he told real estate news site The Real Deal last month.
In the meantiime. back in Manhattan, he told us, “Helmsley Spear is currently arranging for a new office space.”
