By Stephen Jacob Smith 5:43pm

Manhattan Transfers

The priciest condos at 737 Park were hiked 15 percent, after sitting on the market for less than three weeks.

Price Hike for Prewar Park Avenue Condos

A Park Avenue co-op may be the ultimate in old New York style, but what happens if you don’t want to (or can’t) put up with the hassles of proving yourself to a co-op board? For the paparazzi-tailed celebrities, Slavic-accented oligarchs and Gulf emirs among us, there’s always 737 Park Avenue.

And by the looks of the recent price increases at the stately 1940 apartment house at Park Avenue and East 71st Street, the celebs, oligarchs and emirs are desperately in need of accommodations. Developer Macklowe Properties just put the sponsor units on the market on January 11, but those prices didn’t even last three weeks before they were raised, according to StreetEasy. And it isn’t the first time that the developer has demanded more—Bloomberg News reported that Macklowe jacked up prices in the building twice last November. Then again, the price hikes could be a publicity ploy—in which case, it’s working! (As far as we can tell, nobody managed to scoop up an apartment before any of the recent price hikes.) Read More

By Dana Rubinstein 12/09/09 1:32pm

Macklowe Guns to Take Back 510 Madison

Harry Macklowe—the self-made real estate tycoon whose ill-fated $7 billion 2007 purchase of a portfolio of New York skyscrapers rendered him a symbol of the perils of overleveraging—is trying to reassert some control.

Mr. Macklowe is competing against fellow tycoon Douglas Durst, among others, in a bid to buy back the mortgage on one of Read More

By Guelda Voien 11/05/09 4:03pm

Worldwide Potential

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 Read More

By Lysandra Ohrstrom 10/19/09 10:57pm

Payment Due! Class A Midtown Loans

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 Read More

By Bonnie Kavoussi 6/10/09 7:18pm

The Macklowe Selloff: What Happened to Harry’s Buildings

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 Read More

By Dana Rubinstein 11/12/08 12:23am

$224 M. Drake Hotel Site Mortgage Up For Sale

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.” Read More

By Dana Rubinstein 6/12/08 6:43pm

Billy Macklowe Officially Takes Charge of Macklowe Properties

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 Read More