Macklowe Properties | The New York Observer

Worldwide Potential

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:03:38 -0500

When Worldwide plaza was completed in 1989, the West Side conjured thoughts of West Side Story, not high-end office space.

Fast-forward 20 years, and the sale of Worldwide Plaza—the 47-story granite and brick edifice that towers above Hell’s Kitchen, spanning 49th and 50th streets and Eighth and Ninth avenues—has been 2009’s biggest New York City building deal to date. While the rest of commercial real estate was in reruns this summer, Worldwide Plaza was very...

Payment Due! Class A Midtown Loans

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:57:05 -0400

As conditions in Manhattan’s commercial market grow grimmer, one question continues to dog investors: Where’s the debt and how can I break me off a piece?

The Manhattan office market dropped 22.9 percent between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, according to the Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price September Indices, compared to 30.1 percent regionally and 21.2 percent nationally. (The indices track the price changes for commercial real estate in the top 10 U.S. markets...

The Macklowe Selloff: What Happened to Harry's Buildings

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:18:15 -0400

Good-bye to all that.

Last week’s news that a deal had been cut for the sale of Worldwide Plaza marks the coda of Harry Macklowe’s investment adventure. It began in the heady days of early 2007, when his Macklowe Properties—and various lenders—bought seven Manhattan towers via Blackstone and Sam Zell’s Equity Office Portfolio for over $7 billion.

The shakeout from that at-the-time applauded purchase eventually resulted in not only the seizure by creditors...

$224 M. Drake Hotel Site Mortgage Up For Sale

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:23:02 -0500

In an apparent effort to raise cash, the struggling iStar Financial has put its $224 million Drake Hotel site mortgage on the block, according to a knowledgeable source.

“They’re a mortgage REIT and they need cash,” said the source. “The development is not going anywhere today. It’s in default. It’s not paying interest currently.”

The development site in question is the plot bounded by 56th and 57th streets and Park Avenue,...

Macklowe Further Consolidates Control Over Drake Hotel Site

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:15:08 -0400

A Macklowe Properties-affiliated company has paid $5.35 million to buy out a lease at 38 East 57th Street, further consolidating control over the site where the family-owned firm has long planned to build some sort of hotel and condo project.

According to The Real Deal:

The move puts Macklowe Properties a step closer to full control of the building at 38 East 57th Street, which it bought last year for $60 million. Now company head, Harry...

Deutsche Sues to Foreclose on Macklowe's Drake Hotel Site

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:57:10 -0400

Hot damn! The Real Deal is reporting that Deutsche Bank is suing Macklowe Properties "to foreclose on $482 million in principal loaned to develop the Drake Hotel site at Park Avenue and 56th Street, according to a complaint filed [on Aug. 28] in New York State Supreme Court."

According to the report:

"The suit seeks to regain control not only of the 24,000-square-foot development site at the corner of Park Avenue and 56th Street, but also...

Billy Macklowe Officially Takes Charge of Macklowe Properties

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:43:15 -0400

In the wake of his father Harry's near disastrous over-leveraging of the family business, Billy Macklowe has officially been named Macklowe Properties' new chairman and CEO. He has been working with his father since 1992, after a stint as a real estate finance analyst for Manufactures Hanover.

His father Harry has been named Chairman Emeritus of the firm.

The father and son were said to have a fractious relationship, which, according to a recent Wall...

City Deeds Suggest a Finished GM Building Deal

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:33:31 -0400

Early on Tuesday afternoon, Mort Zuckerman told a REBNY luncheon that he and his partners were closing on the approximately $2.8 billion purchase of the GM Building "as we speak."

At 4:38 p.m., a deed hit city records marking a $690 million transaction between Mr. Zuckerman's group and Macklowe Properties, the former owner of the GM Building, for the office tower at 761 Fifth Avenue (an address for the GM Building). Another deed, for a...

Zuckerman: GM Building Deal 'Closing As We Speak'

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:34:13 -0400

The GM Building sale is "closing as we speak." That's according to Mort Zuckerman, who is addressing a Real Estate Board of New York luncheon this afternoon.

Mr. Zuckerman's Boston Properties, along with partners including Goldman Sachs, negotiated the purchase of the Macklowe Properties building late last month in a deal that valued it at around $2.8 billion. It's the most expensive building sale ever....

Zuckerman's New GM Building Crew?

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:55:45 -0400

Boston Properties’ purchase of the GM Building has not even gone through yet, but it appears that Mort Zuckerman is already shaking things up at the Midtown office tower he and his partners are expected to formally own within the next week.

We visited the GM Building after the deal was negotiated over Memorial Day Weekend, and rumors were already circulating that current maintenance and security crews should expect their marching orders at...

Macklowes Drop $7 Billion for Eight Buildings

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:05:31 -0500

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. Release after the jump. - John Koblin MACKLOWE PROPERTIES BUYS EIGHT MANHATTAN OFFICE BUILDINGS FROM EOP COMPRISING 6.5 MILLION SF OF SPACE New York, NY - February 9, 2007 . . . Macklowe Properties has announced the acquisition of eight Class A Manhattan...