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Who

A former diamond trader, Barnett heads Extell Development Corporation, one of the city's most active real estate development firms.

Backstory

Barnett started out his career in the diamond trade and spent the early 1980s living in Belgium, working at his then-wife's family's diamond firm, S. Muller & Sons. After moving back to the U.S., Barnett jumped into the real estate game, investing in properties in the Midwest before turning to development. One of his early projects in New York was the construction of what was supposed to be a Planet Hollywood Hotel on Broadway and 47th Street. Two years into planning, though, the chain went bankrupt; scrambling to find another tenant, Barnett managed to persuade Barry Sternlicht to lease the space and install a W Hotel. The result—the 57-story W Times Square—opened in 2002.

Since then Extell has acquired and developed property at a furious pace: He teamed up with the Carlyle Group to buy Donald Trump's Riverside South development on the Upper West Side for $1.76 billion (a sum that later spurred a lawsuit); converted the aged Stanhope Hotel on Fifth Avenue into the super-high-end 995 Fifth; and put up a 60-story condo tower on West 42nd Street called the Orion. Barnett has continued the astronomy theme of late: He converted a duo of prewar properties in Chelsea into the residential buildings Altair 18 and Altair 20, and erected the Ariel East and Ariel West on the Upper West Side.

Of note

Barnett's exceedingly prolific pace continues: He has developments in progress in virtually every corner of Manhattan. He's now finishing up the Avery, a 32-story Costas Kondylis-designed building on 65th Street and Riverside; one block south, he's putting up the Rushmore, another Kondylis-designed tower. The largest (and most controversial) project on his plate is a 40-story commercial building on West 47th Street where Barnett plans to locate a global diamond exchange. Extell has a handful of brand name architects attached to a number of other projects, including a hotel-condo on far West 30th Street designed by Steven Holl; an Enrique Norten-designed mixed-use building on West 45th Street; a Cook + Fox-sculpted condo called the Lucidia on the Upper East Side; and three brand new buildings on the Riverside South plot designed by Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Christian de Portzamparc.

Drama

Extell's aggressive development plans have invariably generated controversy. The Ariel towers—which are more than 30 stories tall—have aroused the ire of Upper West Side residents, who have condemned the buildings as horrendously out-of-scale for the neighborhood. Barnett's plan for a diamond exchange had merchants in the surrounding area up in arms about the potential demise of the broader diamond district.

Barnett's clashed with his fellow real estate titans, too. He's long had a feud with developer Bruce Ratner: Extell was the only other party to submit a bid for the Atlantic Yards in 2005 and Barnett ended up losing out. He later sued Ratner to stop him from building a new headquarters for the New York Times Co. (He lost.) Barnett has also tussled in court with Donald Trump. The Donald unsuccessfully sued Extell after the Riverside South buy, claiming he'd been ripped off in the transaction.

True story

Extell's name used to be Intell. That changed in 2004 when chipmaker Intel sued over the similarity. But Barnett is well-versed when it comes to name changes: He went by Gershon Barnett early in his career and was born by the name of Gershon Swiatycki.

Personal

The Orthodox Jewish Barnett and his wife, Ayala, live in the Richmond Hill section of Queens.