_Economy and Finance

Worldwide Plaza Confirms Recapitalization Plans By Karsten Strauss 11/21/12 1:37pm Worldwide Plaza will definitely look to recapitalize, following several months of lingering on the auction block. Sellers, George Comfort & Sons and RCG Longview, had purchased the building – located at 825 Eighth Avenue – in 2009 for just under $600 million. http://commercialobserver.com/2012/11/worldwide-plaza-confirms-refinance-plans/

Commercial investors may look to Worldwide Plaza as model October 23, 2009 12:10 PM Real estate investor Peter Duncan, who scored a deal on the 49-story Worldwide Plaza building in July, now has the chance to shape the New York commercial real estate market’s investment landscape. Duncan, who is president of George Comfort & Sons, purchased the property at 825 Eighth Avenue for $590 million, roughly a third of what Harry Macklowe paid for it in February 2007. The price means Duncan might be able to lease out the first 14 floors, which stand vacant as the second-largest empty space in the city, for as little as $30 or $40 per square foot, according to Robert Sammons, research director at Colliers ABR. Whereas Midtown office buildings have had a rough year — CB Richard Ellis Group reported that there have been no single leases in the area for more than 250,000 square feet — low prices may hasten leasing activity for the space in Duncan’s building formerly occupied by advertising f...

Worldwide Plaza deal in trouble June 23, 2009 02:00 PM Real estate sources say a deal to sell Worldwide Plaza — one of the seven office towers Harry Macklowe was forced to return to his lenders — has fallen apart. This is the second time a deal to sell the building has fallen through, and both instances involved George Comfort & Sons as the buyer. In the latest transaction to break down, George Comfort and real estate investment firm RCG Longview struck a deal to purchase the 47-story tower for an undisclosed sum earlier this month. Deutsche Bank, which controls the building, would have retained a stake and provided financing for the deal. Sources say Deutsche Bank killed the transaction. According to the Wall Street Journal, the building is on the market again. http://therealdeal.com/blog/2009/06/23/worldwide-plaza-deal-in-trouble/

Deutsche Bank slashes price tag for two Macklowe buildings December 09, 2008 05:12 PM By David Jones As pressure mounts to close the books on the Harry Macklowe foreclosure saga, Deutsche Bank has lowered the price tag for 1540 Broadway and Worldwide Plaza to $800 million, according to financial and legal sources familiar with the discussions. http://therealdeal.com/blog/2008/12/09/deutsche-slashes-price-tag-for-two-macklowe-buildings-2/

February 1, 2008 Real-Estate Credit Crisis Squeezes Macklowe BY JENNIFER S. FORSYTH New York real-estate titan Harry Macklowe has reached a tentative agreement with his lender to turn over effective control of seven Manhattan office buildings he acquired less than a year ago for $7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120181345769733089.html

Harry Macklowe’s $6.4 Billion Bill By CHARLES V. BAGLI and TERRY PRISTIN Published: January 6, 2008 IN August 2003, Harry B. Macklowe raced from lender to lender to round up a record-breaking $1.4 billion to buy the General Motors Building, the 50-story commercial skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan that is one of New York’s trophy properties. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/business/06harry.html

The King of Hedge Fund Alley by Adam Piore May 31, 2007 | 12:00 am EDT Not so long ago, Harry Macklowe was perhaps best known for his long-running feud with billionaire homemaker Martha Stewart. Throughout the mid-1990s, the two East Hampton, New York, neighbors engaged in a thorny battle over the size of Macklowe’s hedges, his lighting fixtures, and a fence that Stewart complained blocked her view of a pond. The feud cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and became juicy tabloid fodder when Macklowe’s 23-year-old handyman accused Stewart of pinning him against a gate control box with her Chevy Suburban. http://upstart.bizjournals.com/executives/features/2007/05/31/The-King-of-Hedge-Fund-Alley.html