Harry Macklowe

Where’s Harry Macklowe?

Has the once mighty real estate titan taken a wind-powered voyage on his sailboat, Unfurled, to some mysterious locale still untouched by rumors of his catastrophic fall from the acme of Manhattan real estate?  read more »

Fifteen minutes ago was the deadline for developers to bid on one of Manhattan's prime trophy properties -- 1301 Avenue of the Americas, also known as the Credit Lyonnais Building, at the corner of 52nd Street.

The cloud-buster is one of the seven so-called "Equity Portfolio" properties that beleaguered mogul Harry Macklowe bought last year for $7 billion (in those bubbly days, he only had to put down $50 million of his own money).  read more »

If you needed any reminder that the fog of litigation clouding the allegedly “fraudulent” sale of the GM Building to Harry Macklowe in 2003 involves actual people, rife with human intrigue, here’s a reminder from an affidavit signed by real estate developer and investor Leslie Dick.

We know it's confusing; but first, some background: Mr. Dick alleges that celebrity financier George Soros rigged bidding so that the trophy building would end up in Mr. Macklowe's hands. We'll get into the nitty gritty of that some other time. The real point of this post is to share the following juicy tidbit from the affidavit: Mr. Dick claims that, after he wrote Mr. Soros in November 2003 expressing his concern about the sale, Mr. Soros spied on him.  read more »

Eastdil Secured has been hired to market Harry Macklowe's 1.765 million-square-foot office tower at 1301 Avenue of the Americas, according to the Post. The tower could set a single-building sales record, even in this cooling investment sales climate.

If it gets anywhere over $1,000 a square foot--eminently possible for a top-shelf Midtown building--1301 Avenue of the Americas could sell for at least $1.765 billion, which would put it just a shade below the all-time building record of $1.8 billion, which belongs to 666 Fifth Avenue and its owner, Kushner Companies.  read more »

For many Turtle Bay residents, the fatal crane collapse at 303 East 51st Street on March 15 was more than just an accident that should have been prevented: It was three years of frenzied residential development come home to roost.

A New York Post column published the morning after began, “Katherine Hepburn must be turning in her grave,” in reference to the late actress and one of the more famous Turtle Bay locals. “Shoddy construction by greedy moneymen is destroying the whole Turtle Bay area around Second Avenue, filling the neighborhood she loved with countless world-class ugly buildings,” Linda Stasi wrote. “What they’ve done to Second Avenue in the last few years is criminal. Yesterday it turned deadly.”

Like most neighborhoods in Manhattan, many new condos have gone up recently in Turtle Bay—the area roughly between 42nd and 53rd streets east of Lexington Avenue—and more projects are in the pipeline. But aside from the recently arrested buildings inspector, no criminal activity has been linked to the other developments. Bruce Silberblatt, vice president of the neighborhood residents’ group the Turtle Bay Association, rattled off at least 11 residential projects that are in various stages of development or have recently come on-line.  read more »

Real estate investor--and Sears Tower co-owner--Joseph Cayre has dropped out of the bidding for Harry Macklowe's General Motors Building at 767 Fifth Avenue, according to Crain's, which cites a source with knowledge of the deal.

The second round of bids were due today. With Mr. Cayre out, there may be only two bidders left, including Larry Silverstein. The GM Building would likely fetch over $3 billion if sold in full--apparently a price tag too steep for Mr. Cayre.  read more »

My, Sheldon Solow is busy these days.

It’s now the 11th hour for his $4 billion East River development, which faces an up or down vote before the City Council tomorrow; and best and final bids are due tomorrow for one of the country’s most watched skyscrapers, the GM Building, a tower Mr. Solow claims he rightfully owns.  read more »

For the first two months of 2008, the Manhattan landscape for big-building sales has been an arid one, as rattled lenders and wary sellers sit tight amid the credit drought.

Manhattan has seen only one sale over $400 million since the end of 2007, a year when such sales poured forth on a monthly, if not weekly, basis.  read more »

Embattled landlord Harry Macklowe has closed in on an extension to repay billions in loans he took last February to buy seven Manhattan office buildings. Jennifer S. Forsyth reports in the Wall Street Journal this morning that Mr. Macklowe has neared an agreement with lender Deutsche Bank to turn over control of the buildings in exchange for a six- to 12-month extension.

Deutsche had sold some of the debt to smaller lenders, including Vornado Realty Trust, which had refused to go along with the extension plan. Apparently, Steve Roth's Vornado has come onboard and the plan is moving forward.

Mr. Macklowe also took a personally guaranteed loan of $1.2 billion from Fortress Investment Group for last February's deal. That loan has grown to $1.4 billion with interest, but Mr. Macklowe reached an extension with Fortress, too.  read more »

A reported bidder for the GM Building, Joseph Cayre, is not usually mentioned in the same breath as the usual real estate bigwigs (Jerry Speyer, Steven Roth, etc.), but the investor is hardly a small player. The Wall Street Journal’s Jennifer Forsyth brings us the news today that Mr. Cayre was one of at least three bidders offering more than $3 billion for Harry Macklowe’s GM Building at 767 Fifth Avenue; Larry Silverstein was another.  read more »

Harry Macklowe, struggling with $7 billion of debt come due, has reached an extension agreement with his lenders, according to a statement put out by his spokesman, Howard Rubenstein.

Mr. Macklowe, who is taking bids today for his prized GM Building, was granted extensions of unspecified terms by both Deutsche Bank and Fortress Investment Group, his principal lenders, according to Mr. Rubenstein. Repayments on much of Mr. Macklowe’s debt were due a week ago.  read more »

We're still trying to find out who has bid initially for Harry Macklowe's GM Building. The first round of bids was due today. Mr. Macklowe needs the money from the sale of arguably the world's most valuable office tower to pay off $7 billion in debt from a purchase of seven Manhattan office buildings last February...

Which brings us to this: The last media story mentioned and linked to from the Macklowe Properties' Web site (under the "Macklowe News" tab) is one by The New York Times from Feb. 21, 2007, trumpeting the triumph that was that building-portfolio buy.  read more »

The first round of bids are due today for Harry Macklowe's GM Building at 767 Fifth Avenue. Who will bid?

Just to bring you up to speed: Mr. Macklowe, one of the most well-known developers and landlords (and one of the most controversial) in New York since the 1980's bought seven Manhattan office buildings last winter for nearly $7 billion. He put up a very small amount of that money himself and borrowed the rest, including $1.2 billion, which he personally guaranteed and which happens to be about half the current market value of the GM Building. So... here we are.  read more »

Many expect the GM Building to sell for at least $3 billion (The Times referenced $3.5 billion this morning). If it does go for $3.5 billion, that will mean it will have sold for over $1,900 a foot--and that would mean it will set a new price-per-foot record for American office buildings. That distinction currently belongs to 450 Park Avenue, which traded last year for just under $1,600 a foot.

Ironically enough, 450 Park stands next to a development site owned by Harry Macklowe, the GM Building's embattled owner.  read more »

Even businessmen at the GM Building this afternoon were unaware of the tower's impending sale by owner Harry Macklowe, which doesn't quite signal stellar newspaper consumption levels in New York.

A group of smokers outside had no idea; but even if the building is sold (bids are due tomorrow), one man said, his firm has a 10-year lease so it makes no difference. Without breaking his purposeful stride to lunch another, Wall Street type shouted over his shoulder, "I don't know anything about the sale, I'm just one of the investors involved."  read more »

I'm blogging from the Apple Store in the GM Building the day before bids are due for Harry Macklowe's gem at 767 Fifth Avenue. Aside from a photographer looming around, brandishing a press pass, it's business as usual here. The store is packed with tourists, teens, and that enigmatic breed of New Yorker which can afford to spend days frittering on laptops or attending matinees.

Employees at the Apple Store, one of Mr. Macklowe's prime retail tenants, seem equally oblivious to the drawn-out saga that will race toward culmination tomorrow.  read more »

Everyone knows Harry Macklowe's selling the GM Building to raise money to pay off his debts. The bids for the iconic tower are due tomorrow, and one of the enticements Mr. Macklowe offers bidders is the prospect of rebranding the 50-story tower at the southeast corner of Central Park. The New York Times reports this morning that General Motors' contractual naming rights for the tower expire in 2010.  read more »

Talks continue between Harry Macklowe and his creditors over the $7 billion in debt he owes connected to his purchase of seven Manhattan buildings last February. Otherwise, no new news to report this morning.

But my colleague, Eliot Brown, has a story in today's Observer about Mort Zuckerman's coy interest in Mr. Macklowe's GM Building, which he put on the market in January as a possible way to pay off some of the debt.

Harry Macklowe has been served a default notice, according to reports, and could face foreclosure on some of the seven Manhattan buildings he bought last winter for $7 billion. Mr. Macklowe could not reach an agreement with some lenders to get an extension on $3.1 billion in debt on four of the buildings.

He has apparently reached a deal with his primary lender, Deutsche Bank, on $5.8 billion of the debt that involves him turning over control of the seven buildings while retaining the titles.  read more »

Harry Macklowe is in default, according to reports. The landlord owed Deutsche Bank on Saturday $5.8 billion for a loan he took last winter to buy seven Manhattan office buildings for $7 billion. Mr. Macklowe is reportedly still in talks with the bank and a group of subordinate lenders on a repayment plan, but he's technically in default on the loan, according to sources quoted by the Wall Street Journal.  read more »

We've all been following the travails of Harry Macklowe, the mighty landlord who entered 2007 with a big-bang buy of seven Manhattan office buildings for $7 billion. A year later, Mr. Macklowe owes his lenders on the deal $7 billion (though some reports put the amount at $6.4 billion) and the bill's due tomorrow.  read more »

Bloomberg News is reporting that Harry Macklowe plans to sell the GM Building this month. Bids for the 50-story building, arguably the world's most valuable, are due on Feb. 15. And Mr. Macklowe owes billions to his creditors by Feb. 9 (or they need to give him an extension by that date).

So the timing for a multi-billion-dollar sale of the GM Building at 767 Fifth Avenue would not be more opportune for the embattled Mr.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal this morning lays out the stakes for Harry and Billy Macklowe. Bottom line, they owe billions to Deutsche Bank and hedge fund Fortress Investment. They used the billions to finance the epic $7 billion purchase of seven Manhattan office buildings one year ago this month.

Now, the bills are due something awful and the Macklowes may face the disappearance of much of their hard-won empire:  read more »

Developer Larry Silverstein publicly professed his love for Harry Macklowe’s GM Building today, though was mum on whether he is interested in buying a stake—or all—of Mr. Macklowe’s prized tower at 767 Fifth Avenue.

“I think the General Motors building is perhaps one of New York’s finest buildings—it’s a gem, it’s a trophy,” he told a gaggle of reporters at this morning’s Downtown Alliance breakfast.  read more »

We got the new issue of Real Estate Weekly today. The full-page ad on the back (right) from Kennedy Funding struck us initially as a remarkably tasteless play on the remarkably tasteless Golfweek cover earlier this month.

Then we read the ad.

You need millions. You have to close in 2 weeks. All other lenders already said no. Don't worry, there's a better alternative.  read more »

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It's been almost one full week since the news broke that Macklowe Properties was marketing the GM Building at 767 Fifth Avenue, arguably the most valuable building on Earth.

We couldn't help but dig up something that Billy Macklowe said to The Observer's John Koblin back in February, after he and his father Harry bought eight New York buildings (not including the GM) for $7 billion:

'Dad and I like to move quickly. Time kills all deals.'

We're tempted to wax hyperbolic about the potential sale by Harry Macklowe of the GM Building, so, what the heck, we will: It could fetch a truly historic record, perhaps becoming the biggest single biggest building sale of our lifetimes (and the average age of The Observer's real estate desk is 27.5 right now).

Here's the quick math first, then the historical benchmarks. Most top-flight office towers in New York trade now for at least $1,000 a square foot.  read more »

Harry Macklowe, the owner of Macklowe Properties who made a mammoth $7 billion property buy earlier this year, has shown his first major sign of buckling in the face of substantial debt troubles, bringing on the real estate firm CB Richard Ellis to market the prized GM Buidling at 767 Fifth Avenue. The news was first reported in The Wall Street Journal online this afternoon.

The GM Building, with its soaring white columns, is easily one of the most valuable buildings in the city. Mr.  read more »

The sale of 450 Park Avenue is a done deal--and it was a whopper of one, setting a per-square-foot record of $1,566 for a U.S. office building, according to Bloomberg News.

The Observer called it back in July, when the building went to contract. Back then, we wondered why Harry Macklowe didn't buy 450 Park, considering he controls the development site next to it.

Oh well. Now, officially, Somerset Partners owns it. Taconic Investment Partners and the New York Common Retirement Fund were the sellers.

Harry Macklowe needed some good news, and as summer comes to a close, at least one building in his portfolio has delivered.

China Finance Inc., a publicly traded financial firm, has signed a lease for approximately 20,000 square feet on the 20th and 21s  read more »

Did Harry Macklowe overstep his bounds earlier this year?

A recent issue of Commercial Mortgage Alert says that the Manhattan developer could lose all those properties that he acquired for $7 billion back in February.  read more »

The Macklowes are considering a plan to sell a few towers from their massive seven-building portfolio buy in February.

Billy Macklowe told Crain’s this week that when he and father Harry bought the portfolio they “always considered an exit,” which could take the form of finding a financial partner for some of the towers or “the sale of one or two buildings.”  read more »

When 450 Park Avenue went to contract two weeks ago, where were the Macklowes?  read more »

Harry and Billy won't get all eight buildings from Blackstone, after all.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription) that the Macklowes will not acquire 717 Fifth Avenue from Blackstone. Apparently, SL Green and retail developer Jeff Sutton had dibs on the building and the right of first refusal to purchase the office portion if it changed hands.

Billy Macklowe told the Journal the process was tied up in negotiations and it got to the point where it wasn't worth it.

For shame. The Journal does not say whether this will affect the $7 billion price tag the Macklowes put down for the eight buildings, including the $1.73 billion they paid for 825 Eighth Avenue. All other seven building sales have closed.  read more »

In the last week of January, shortly before Blackstone acquired Equity Office Properties for $39 bil  read more »

Whew, done already? Macklowe Properties has closed on eight EOP buildings for $7 billion. Harry Macklowe swept in and bought the buildings from Blackstone.

The only building not included? 1095 Avenue of the Americas.  read more »

Release after the jump.

- John Koblin

The Financial Times Building at 1330 Avenue of the Americas is a closed deal, according to city records. Harry Macklowe dropped $498 million in a bidding war to get the building in contract. Steve Cuozzo reported that 40 percent of the building will be on the leasing market this year. - John Koblin

The New York Post reports today that Maggie Gyllenhaal, and her fiancee Peter Sarsgaard have been checking out a $2.7 million Tribeca condo. At this time, the contract has not been signed. But considering that the attractive couple just announced they were getting married earlier this month, and that Ms. Gyllenhaal is pregant, they could be ready to settle down in a sleek, 2,300-square-foot apartment.

Also in The Post: Katie Couric is reportedly buying an $8 million Southampton home, and there's a price on those units that Harry Macklowe is purchasing at The Plaza.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

In addition to recently buying a midtown hotel, East 77th St. townhouse and a couple units in The Plaza, developer Harry Macklowe has become embroiled in a dispute with his chocolatier tenant, Fauchon, reports the New York Times.

The argument revolves around Fauchon's retail space in the Drake Hotel, which Mr. Macklowe purchased last month for over $418 million, and now reportedly plans to demolish to building a luxury apartment building.

Fauchon, which occupied the only storefront in the Drake, had more than a decade left on its lease. But Mr. Macklowe made clear that he wanted to clear the building. Early this month, he paid Fauchon $4 million to shorten its lease. Fauchon expected to remain there until April 2007, doing business as usual.

Both sides are now at odds over a variety of issues: air-conditioning, bathrooms, and hanging decorative flags on the building's exterior. But why dwell those petty matters? The more probing question seems to be whether Mr. Macklowe likes chocolate or not. Seriously!

As for whether Mr. Macklowe is a chocolate lover or a chocolate hater, the lawyer who represented him in court, Richard Claman, would not say. He referred a reporter to a spokesman for Mr. Macklowe, Howard J. Rubenstein, who said he did not know, either, but promised to put the question to him.  read more »

Mr. Rubenstein called back a few minutes later and said: "When I started asking him about chocolate, he started talking to me about French fries. He wouldn't talk about chocolate."

- Michael Calderone

Last month, The Observer reported on developer Harry Macklowe's recent buying spree.

In addition to purchasing a townhouse at 53 East 77th Street for $15.75 million, Mr. Macklowe reportedly plans hotel and luxury condominium developments in the East 50's.

Now, Peter Slatin reports that Mr. Macklowe has just purchased two units at The Plaza. Perhaps, not as a coincidence, the luxurious apartments face the General Motors Building, a skyscraper across Fifth Avenue that Mr. Macklowe bought for $1.4 billion a few years back.

As with the townhouse purchase, Macklowe Properties is not saying a word about the company's plans.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

Developer Harry Macklowe has just bought a mansion at 53 East 77th Street for $15.75 million—b  read more »

Developer Harry Macklowe has just bought a mansion at 53 East 77th Street for $15.75 million—but w  read more »

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When Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation snatched one of Manhattan's prime development spots away  read more »

Harry Macklowe has the perfect real estate deal for the harried chief executive who rides the Metro-  read more »

One evening last July, developer Harry Macklowe arrived at one of the city's most powerful law firms  read more »