$800 Million Loan Sought on Worldwide Plaza

$800 Million Loan Sought on Worldwide Plaza
12/21/2012

The owner of one of New York’s largest office towers is shopping for an $800 million fixed-rate loan.

http://www.cmalert.com/headlines.php?hid=160163

Worldwide Plaza Confirms Recapitalization Plans

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/

Worldwide Plaza may be off the block

Worldwide Plaza may be off the block

With bids lagging the $1.5 billion target price, the owners of the 59-story West Side office tower are said to be thinking about holding off and settling for a re-fi now.

BY DANIEL GEIGER
NOVEMBER 19, 2012 1:37 P.M.

The owners of Worldwide Plaza have begun considering a refinancing of their 1.9 million square foot tower, rather than the sale they had been pursuing, several sources say.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20121119/REAL_ESTATE/121119923

Being Gutsy Is Bringing Some Glory

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
October 9, 2012, 8:12 p.m. ET
Being Gutsy Is Bringing Some Glory
Smaller Firms That Bought Commercial Property During Downturn See Profits

By ELIOT BROWN

The expected sale of a hulking, brick office tower in Midtown Manhattan is on track to net its seller the largest dollar profit to date on any single property that was purchased during the financial downturn.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443294904578046812154313132.html

Worldwide Plaza Bids Coming in Slightly Below George Comfort’s Lofty Targets

Worldwide Plaza Bids Coming in Slightly Below George Comfort’s Lofty Targets
By Daniel Geiger 10/01/12 6:04pm

Bids for Worldwide Plaza are coming in below the sky-high projections sellers George Comfort & Sons and RCG Longview had hoped for when the partners (finally) put the nearly two million-square-foot office tower on the market in recent weeks.

http://commercialobserver.com/2012/10/worldwide-plaza-bids-coming-in-slightly-below-george-comforts-lofty-targets/

At long last, World Wide Plaza hits the market

At long last, World Wide Plaza hits the market
August 28, 2012 10:30 AM

Worldwide Plaza, the behemoth office building located at 825 Eighth Avenue, will go up for auction, the New York Observer reported. The owners of the 59-story tower, George Comfort & Sons and RGC Longview, first tapped Eastdil Secured to market the building in May. After failing to secure an off-market bid they were happy with, Adam Spies and Doug Harmon of Eastdil told the Observer they were ready to head to auction with 1.8-million-square-foot tower.

The current owners nabbed the building for about $600 million in 2009, and the sale price for the building now is expected to be at least twice that, the Observer said. [NYO]

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/08/28/at-long-last-world-wide-plaza-hits-the-market/

Manhattan Office Giant on Block

May 29, 2012, 6:17 PM
Manhattan Office Giant on Block

By Eliot Brown

Values of Manhattan office buildings are about to be tested by the investment group that bought Worldwide Plaza for a discount price at the market’s nadir.

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/05/29/manhattan-office-giant-on-block/

NOMURA LEASES 900,000 SF AT WORLDWIDE PLAZA FOR ITS NORTH AMERICAN HEADQUARTERS

NOMURA LEASES 900,000 SF AT WORLDWIDE PLAZA FOR ITS NORTH AMERICAN HEADQUARTERS
30 Jun, 2011, Warsaw

New York, NY – In a major leasing transaction that provides one of the city’s iconic midtown office properties with a dynamic new anchor tenant, Nomura Holding America Inc., the U.S subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings, Inc., has leased over 900,000 square feet of space at Worldwide Plaza for its Americas headquarters.

http://www.cushwake.com/cwglobal/jsp/newsDetail.jsp?Country=DE&Language=EN&repId=c42300003p

WNET signs lease at Worldwide Plaza

WNET signs lease at Worldwide Plaza
August 17, 2010 08:30 AM

Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue

WNET, the parent company of public television’s Channel 13, has signed a 95,000-square-foot lease at Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets, taking two floors in the 1.8 million-square-foot tower, the Post reported. Terms for the Worldwide Plaza lease were not released, but asking rents there run from $52 to $59 a square foot. The deal marks an important step forward for the building, which was purchased last year from Deutsche Bank for $605 million by a George Comfort & Sons-led partnership after Deutsche took it back from Harry Macklowe. The WNET deal is the first section being leased out of the 640,000 square feet that became available after advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather moved out in 2009 (note: correction appended). WNET will move from its current corporate headquarters at 450 West 33rd Street by the end of the year. WNET was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s Charles Borrok and Barry Zeller in the transaction. The landlord was represented in-house by Peter Duncan, George Comfort CEO and president, and Matthew Coudert, executive vice president.

Commercial investors may look to Worldwide Plaza as model

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 firm Ogilvy & Mather. That could, in turn, encourage other investors to take on risk in buying up more New York office buildings, said Jim Frederick, also of Colliers. [Bloomberg]

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2009/10/23/commercial-investors-may-look-to-peter-duncan-s-worldwide-plaza-as-model/

NYC Tower Buyers Wrestle Towering Vacancy Dilemma (Update1)

NYC Tower Buyers Wrestle Towering Vacancy Dilemma (Update1)
By David M. Levitt - October 23, 2009 13:08 EDT

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Real estate investor Peter Duncan, who negotiated the nation’s biggest property deal of the year in buying Manhattan’s Worldwide Plaza, is now in charge of a skyscraper that’s 40 percent empty.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aJG1.l7fPiik

$600M Worldwide Plaza sale approved

$600M Worldwide Plaza sale approved
July 07, 2009 12:32PM

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2009/07/07/george-comfort-completes-worldwide-plaza-deal-deutshce-bank-rcg-longview-macklowe-properties/

After the last deal fell apart, George Comfort & Sons and RCG Longview finally completed a $600 million deal with Deutsche Bank to purchase Worldwide Plaza. Rather than creating a joint venture, Deutsche Bank will just provide a $470 million mortgage for George Comfort and put up about $135 million in equity. The price comes to about $375 a square foot for the 1.6 million-square-foot tower at 825 Eighth Avenue, and the deal is expected to close later this month. As part of the agreement, Deutsche Bank will write down the original $1 billion mortgage it held on the property when Macklowe Properties bought the building in 2007.

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2009/07/07/george-comfort-completes-worldwide-plaza-deal-deutshce-bank-rcg-longview-macklowe-properties/

George Comfort blames Deutsche Bank for botched Worldwide Plaza deal

George Comfort blames Deutsche Bank for botched Worldwide Plaza deal
June 24, 2009 02:58PM

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2009/06/24/george-comfort-blames-deutsche-bank-botched-worldwide-plaza-deal-harry-macklowe-rcg-longview-peter-duncan/

George Comfort & Sons President Peter Duncan blamed lender Deutsche Bank for the breakdown in a deal to buy the former Macklowe Properties Worldwide Plaza west of Times Square. The real estate firm and investment partner RCG Longview were “disappointed that the seller, Deutsche Bank AG, has decided not to honor the contract,” Duncan said in a statement. The companies were in contract to purchase the 1.8 million-square-foot office tower at 825 Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets after the bank took it back from Macklowe Properties. Duncan held out hope the deal could still be finalized. “We have an executed sales contract, a significant hard deposit in place, and even a closing date of June 30th from the seller’s attorneys. We are ready to close,” he said. TRD

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2009/06/24/george-comfort-blames-deutsche-bank-botched-worldwide-plaza-deal-harry-macklowe-rcg-longview-peter-duncan/

Worldwide Plaza deal in trouble

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/

Comfort Scores Worldwide Deal

COMFORT SCORES WORLDWIDE DEAL
By LOIS WEISS

Last Updated: 5:31 PM, June 10, 2009
Posted: 2:17 AM, June 5, 2009

In what will be the city's largest office transaction this year, Worldwide Plaza is in contract to be sold to a joint venture led by George Comfort & Sons that includes RCG Longview and the building's lender, Deutsche Bank.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/item_mgaWEstKJCzUgj9xAJSbdO

Worldwide Plaza for sale

Worldwide Plaza for sale
May 27, 2009 09:00 AM

Worldwide Plaza, the last piece of Macklowe Properties’ portfolio, is for sale. The lender in control of the 1.7 million-square-foot building, Deutsche Bank, wants to retain an ownership stake, but is also prepared to write down the current $1.02 billion in outstanding principal to an $800 million mortgage. The buyer of the building at 825 Eighth Avenue, at 50th Street, is expected to contribute $200 million in equity, and the deal would be valued between $300 and $350 per foot. The leading potential buyer, according to the Post, is George Comfort & Sons. According to CoStar Group, 639,540 square feet is available in the building.

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2009/05/27/worldwide-plaza-for-sale-macklowe-deutsche-bank/

Macklowes Notch Second-Biggest Building Buy in U.S. History

Macklowes Notch Second-Biggest Building Buy in U.S. History
By John Koblin 2/19/07 12:00 am

Macklowe Properties paid $1.73 billion for Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue, the second-largest sale price for an office building in U.S. history.

http://observer.com/2007/02/macklowes-notch-secondbiggest-building-buy-in-us-history/