Is Gary Barnett “the anti-Trump”?

In an unusually wide-ranging interview with the usually-publicity-shy Gary Barnett this week, New York magazine declares the prolific Extell Development president “the anti-Trump.” Barnett, an Orthodox Jew and father of 10, contends he’s not “frightened of the camera… I’m not Howard Hughes. It’s not that I hate publicity because I hate publicity.” He added, “Donald Trump sells buildings that way, or he gets a television show and makes money off it. But that doesn’t do anything for me.” (The Real Deal profiled the Barnett vs. Trump rivalry in the September issue. Read the story here).

Barnett, a native of the Lower East Side, has a “lone-wolf style” that hasn’t won him many friends in the real estate world, the magazine said. But that hasn’t stopped the Queens resident from hurdling forward with his ultra-luxury projects, even amid the recession. In fact, ambitious projects like the $1.3 billion Carnegie 57 condominium and hotel, which recently broke ground and which stands to eclipse Trump’s U.N. Plaza as the city’s tallest residential tower once it’s completed in 2013, contribute to a sense of jealousy and incredulousness amongst his peers.

“There’s a resentment that he’s able to still build and doesn’t give the appearance that he’s affected by this market,” said Stuart Saft, a real estate attorney at Dewey & LeBoeuf. [NY Mag]