Donald Trump, Alex Sapir and Trump Soho

Troubled lender iStar Financial is nearing a deal to sell around $275 million in debt on the Trump Soho condominium-hotel to Los Angeles investment firm CIM Group, likely at a discount, according to the Wall Street Journal. The two sides are apparently already about a month into negotiations and are expected to reach an agreement within days. Developers Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization have been notoriously struggling with sales in the condo portion of the building, having closed just 20 of its 391 units by this summer. [more]

RXR Realty has stepped up to the plate to buy Broadway Partners’ 23-story office tower at 340 Madison Avenue for roughly $570 million, or $760 a foot, according to the Post. Broadway purchased the 750,000-square-foot building, which was redeveloped in 2003 by Macklowe Properties, for $550 million four years ago, when it was only 40 percent leased. After a $50 million investment by Broadway, it is now 92 percent leased. Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CB Richard Ellis headed the marketing effort on the property. [more]

SL Green CEO Marc Holliday and 600 Lexington Avenue

SL Green has come out with an official announcement of its 600 Lexington Avenue takeover from a joint venture led by Hines US Core Office Fund for $193 million, or $636 per square foot. The price was previously reported at under $180 million. Under the terms of the deal, SL Green will assume $49.85 million of debt on the 36-story office tower, for which the 5.74 percent interest-only loan matures in March 2014. The building is currently 93.6 percent leased, though 54 percent of its space will become available over the next three years. “We moved aggressively to lock up this opportunity, and there exists a strong likelihood that we will be able to attract a joint venture partner on this asset,” said CEO Marc Holliday. The city’s largest landlord has been on somewhat of an acquisition tear lately. The company purchased 100 Church Street at a foreclosure auction earlier this year and recently snatched up the debt on Macklowe Properties’ 510 Madison, on which it is now trying — with some difficulty — to foreclose. TRD [more]

Broadway Partners’ 23-story office tower at 340 Madison Avenue is on the market, and despite the flagging commercial market, the sellers stand to make a profit on their 2006 investment. The 750,000-square-foot property, which was redeveloped by the Macklowe Organization in 2003, has higher cash flow now than it did in 2006, with tenants like law firm McDermot Will & Emery, the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, PNC Bank and a Coach store, according to CB Richard Ellis’ Darcy Stacom, who is marketing the building with Bill Shanahan. Stacom told the Post’s Lois Weiss that she expects a 6 percent return for the buyer. Broadway purchased the building from Macklowe and Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec for $550 million, upwards of $780 per square foot. Broadway has a $400 million mortgage on the building with ING Real Estate Finance. [Post]

Billy Macklowe of Macklowe Properties and the Drake Hotel Site

An entity affiliated with California-based investment firm CIM Group purchased the former Drake Hotel site at Park Avenue and 56th Street for $305 million from Macklowe Properties. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that CIM Group and Macklowe Properties were in discussions to buy back the debt at a discount. Macklowe Properties bought the original site for $418 million, and loaded it up with loans valued at $543 million, city property records show. The property transfer does not indicate whether Macklowe Properties is a partner in the new ownership entity, CIM/56th Street LLC. CIM Group closed on the purchase of the vacant property with addresses at 434 Park Avenue and 38, 40, 44 and 50 East 57th Street, on Jan. 20, city property records show. The sale ends a complex battle for the loans on the property. German lender Deutsche Bank filed to foreclose on $482 million in loans in August 2008. Then lender iStar Financial tried to sell a $224 million first position debt for $160 million, but could not find a buyer last year. A spokesperson for Macklowe Properties said the company declined to comment. Comments

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Full-service commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle was tapped
to take over the management and leasing of the former Macklowe
Properties Midtown building 1330 Avenue of the Americas, Jones Lang
LaSalle told The Real Deal. Macklowe had been the owner and manager of the 40-story property before
losing it in a mezzanine foreclosure auction April 22 to the senior
mezzanine lender, Otera Capital, a division of a Canadian pension fund. Macklowe bought the property, which spans the block between 53rd and 54th
streets, in 2006 for $498 million. Otera picked it up for $240.1
million, through the assumption of a $240 million first mortgage and a
$100,000 bid for the mezzanine note. Jones Lang was picked by CWCapital Asset Management, on behalf of
Otera, to lease and manage the 525,000-square-foot building which has
140,000 square feet available for lease, the management company said in
a statement. [more]

Tourneau is trying to get out of its 510 Madison Avenue lease

Three months after an incoming tenant in Macklowe Properties’
fire-damaged 510 Madison Avenue announced it wanted to cancel its
lease, a second tenant-to-be is trying to do the same. International watch retailer Tourneau is trying to break a lease it
signed last July for a 3,300-square-foot ground-floor retail location
in the Macklowe building at the corner of Madison Avenue and 53rd
Street, court papers say, which is still under construction. The watch company, citing an obscure legal theory, wants to break the
lease because it remains unclear when it would be able to move in to
the building, and also wants its $148,683 deposit returned, a lawsuit
filed April 13 in Manhattan State Supreme Court says.
[more]