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MANHATTAN
By Natalie Dolce
Boston, Paramount Pick up Macklowe Trophies
The end of summer 2008 defied the usual
slowness, and was quite a busy time as far
as finalizing trophy tower sales in New
York City goes. And most of the larger
sales came from former Macklowe Properties assets.
Locally based Paramount Group Inc.,
a privately owned international real estate
investment and management company,
closed on its acquisition of interests in
1301 Avenue of the Americas; and
Boston-based Boston Properties Inc.
completed the purchase of 125 W. 55th
St. for approximately $444 million, and
its purchase of 540 Madison Ave. and
Two Grand Central Tower for approximately $705 million from an affiliate of
Macklowe Properties.
Macklowe purchased those buildings
as part of a 6.5-million-sf office portfolio buy from Equity Office Properties
Trust in February 2007. Since then,
Macklowe faced a $7-billion debt on the
acquisition, which was paid for by a
$5.8-billion short-term loan from
Deutsche Bank AG, $50 million in equity from Macklowe and a $1.2-billion
loan from Fortress Investment Group
LLC. In February 2008, then-CEO
Harry Macklowe turned over effective
control of seven local office buildings to
his lender, Deutsche Bank. Although
Paramount sources did not disclose the
acquisition price for the 45-story, 1.8-
million-sf tower sale of 1301 Ave. of the
Americas, anonymous sources have
confirmed that it traded for approximately $1.45 billion. The class A tower
is located on Sixth Avenue between
52nd and 53rd streets in Midtown.
According to Albert Behler, president
and CEO of Paramount Group, the
TOP OF THE MARKET Powered by GlobeSt.com
The metro area’s biggest deals from June 18 to July 18, 2008, arranged by sector. The URL will bring you to the full story.
SECTOR
DEAL
URL
TERMS
DEALMAKERS
LEASING
BDO Seidman, 100 Park Ave.
globest.com/reny/09_08/1.html
121,441 sf
Howard Ecker & Co. (tenant)
Cushman & Wakefield (landlord)
Kingsway America, 999 Stewart Ave., Bethpage, NY
globest.com/reny/09_08/2.html
50,000 sf
Wechler Knopf Equities
Nordea Bank Finland, 437 Madison Ave.
globest.com/reny/09_08/3.html
35,000 sf
Studley
PURCHASES
Paramount Group, 1301 Ave. of the Americas
globest.com/reny/09_08/4.html
$1.5B
Eastdil Secured
Boston Properties, 540 Madison Ave./Two Grand Central Tower globest.com/reny/09_08/5.html
$705M
Boston Properties
Boston Properties, 125 W. 55th St.
Somerset Partners, 527 Madison Ave.
Clarett Group/Prudential, 180 Madison Ave.
globest.com/reny/09_08/6.html
globest.com/reny/09_08/7.html
globest.com/reny/09_08/8.html
$444M
Boston Properties
$260 million Somerset Partners
$146M
Eastdil Secured
FINANCE
Apollo, debt investment fund
globest.com/reny/09_08/9.html
$309M
Apollo Real Estate Advisors
Forest City Ratner, construction financing
globest.com/reny/09_08/10.html $167M
Wachovia Bank NA, Helaba
