Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the head of Boston Properties and publisher of U.S. News & World Report and the Daily News, has acquired with some partners the General Motors Building and two other office buildings in Manhattan from Harry B. Macklowe and his family for about $3,950,000.
Mr. Zuckerman and his partners are paying about $2.9 billion for the 50-story office building on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets, a price believed to be the highest ever paid for an office building in the United States.
The sale also includes the 39-story office tower at 540 Madison Avenue on the southwest corner at 55th Street, a 23-story office building at 125 West 55th Street between the Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue, and 2 Grand Central Tower, a 44-story office tower between Lexington and Third Avenues.
In a May 25, 2008 article in The New York Times, Charles V. Bagli said that Mr. Zuckerman declined to discuss his partners in the deal but the article identified them as Goldman Sachs and the governments of Qatar and Kuwait.
The article said that the closing is expected to occur over the next several months and that Boston Properties posted a $165 million deposit.
Mr. Macklowe, the developer of the handsome, black-glass, mixed-use skyscraper known as Metropolitan Tower at 136 West 57th Street, acquired the 50-story GM building in 2004 for $1.4 million. Last year, he paid Equity Office Buildings Trust about $7 billion for seven other Manhattan properties but the rapid change in the financial markets put him in a fiscal pinch.
Earlier this year, Macklowe relinquished control of the Equity Office properties but he and his family still own 400 Madison Avenue, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, 610 Broadway and an office building under construction at 510 Madison Avenue as well as three residential properties and the development parcel on the former site of the Drake Hotel on the northeast corner of 56th Street and Park Avenue.
An article in today's Wall Street Journal by Alex Frangoas and Jennifer S. Forsyth said that Mr. Macklowe's 40-year-old son, William Macklowe, "is pushing his father aside" and is "expected within weeks to take the helm of the family enterprise," adding that the "elder Mr. Macklowe will step down as chairman partly at the insistence of his son, according to people familiar with the matter."
"The move caps months of friction between the father and son as they tried to save their empire. William Macklowe blames his father for making numerous mistakes that led the company to the brink," the article stated.
Mr. Zuckerman and his partners are paying about $2.9 billion for the 50-story office building on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets, a price believed to be the highest ever paid for an office building in the United States.
The sale also includes the 39-story office tower at 540 Madison Avenue on the southwest corner at 55th Street, a 23-story office building at 125 West 55th Street between the Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue, and 2 Grand Central Tower, a 44-story office tower between Lexington and Third Avenues.
In a May 25, 2008 article in The New York Times, Charles V. Bagli said that Mr. Zuckerman declined to discuss his partners in the deal but the article identified them as Goldman Sachs and the governments of Qatar and Kuwait.
The article said that the closing is expected to occur over the next several months and that Boston Properties posted a $165 million deposit.
Mr. Macklowe, the developer of the handsome, black-glass, mixed-use skyscraper known as Metropolitan Tower at 136 West 57th Street, acquired the 50-story GM building in 2004 for $1.4 million. Last year, he paid Equity Office Buildings Trust about $7 billion for seven other Manhattan properties but the rapid change in the financial markets put him in a fiscal pinch.
Earlier this year, Macklowe relinquished control of the Equity Office properties but he and his family still own 400 Madison Avenue, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, 610 Broadway and an office building under construction at 510 Madison Avenue as well as three residential properties and the development parcel on the former site of the Drake Hotel on the northeast corner of 56th Street and Park Avenue.
An article in today's Wall Street Journal by Alex Frangoas and Jennifer S. Forsyth said that Mr. Macklowe's 40-year-old son, William Macklowe, "is pushing his father aside" and is "expected within weeks to take the helm of the family enterprise," adding that the "elder Mr. Macklowe will step down as chairman partly at the insistence of his son, according to people familiar with the matter."
"The move caps months of friction between the father and son as they tried to save their empire. William Macklowe blames his father for making numerous mistakes that led the company to the brink," the article stated.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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