From left: Mort Zuckerman, Susan Breitenbach, Aby Rosen and Billy Macklowe
From Apollo Global Management head Leon Black to Boston Properties boss Mort Zuckerman, the New York City real estate industry is a critical component to the East End scene. In fact, no fewer than 14 of the 100 most powerful people to descend upon the Hamptons this summer, as compiled by Hamptons magazine, are members of the industry. [more]
From the November issue: Three autumns ago, the collapse of Lehman Brothers knocked the wind out of New York’s real estate industry. Home sales flattened. Prices plunged. And, as layoffs mounted, office buildings emptied out. While there have been some spurts of activity, the industry has not gotten back to the highs of the boom. In fact, as the unemployment rate still hovers at an uncomfortably high level, and Wall Street (a once-reliable real estate engine) reports losses, it seems that a complete recovery might be years away.
All the same, there are signs of comebacks — whether they are from developers who once defaulted on mega-loans and seemed like pariahs, or stock prices that have bounced back from the doldrums at some public real estate companies. There are also geographic stretches of the city that had been pocked with empty retail spaces and empty condo buildings, but are now filling up with stores and residents. There are even some bankers who had been caught up in the subprime mess who are now back on the lending scene in a big way. [more]
The Daily News’ publisher could soon be the New York Post’s landlord. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mortimer Zuckerman-led Boston Properties was one of at least seven groups that bid for the News Corp. building at 1211 Sixth Avenue in Midtown last week, along with SL Green Realty, Vornado Realty Trust and Tishman Speyer among others.
In June, Beacon Capital, which purchased the building for $1.5 billion in 2006, enlisted Eastdil Secured to market the 2 million square foot building for about $900 per square-foot, in what is widely seen as a test of whether the trophy tower market has returned to peak prices. [more]
The Real Deal interviewed Mort Zuckerman for what it thought was The Closing section of the September magazine, a wide-ranging monthly Q & A piece with some of New York real estate industry’s top players.
But Zuckerman, the chairman of Boston Properties and publisher of the New York Daily News, might not have been thoroughly briefed on the personal nature of The Closing interview, which generally includes questions ranging from where people maintain homes to who they are dating to mistakes they’ve made in their careers. When The Real Deal asked about the size of his apartment, one of the tamer questions slated for him, the 74-year-old billionaire said he didn’t “have any idea” about the square footage, called the question “silly” and terminated the interview.
The Real Deal decided to share a slightly condensed version of the Q & A with the divorced father of two on the Web. Check here to see what Zuckerman had to say. [more]
Mortimer Zuckerman, founder and chairman of Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News, appeared on CNBC this afternoon to discuss the media business, the debt ceiling and the commercial real estate market. When CNBC noted the bifurcated nature of the market, which is seeing growth in the best markets, but rent declines in other large cities, Zuckerman said that the dichotomy does not concern him. “We’ve limited our own activities to Washington and New York, Boston and San Francisco and these are the best markets to be in,” he said. [more]
Boston Properties is nearing a deal to lease 66,000 square feet in its upcoming, and still mostly unclaimed, 510 Madison Avenue office tower to SAC Capital, the hedge fund owned by billionaire Steven Cohen, according to the Observer. Rumors of the negotiations surfaced months ago, but a lawsuit in which Cohen’s ex-wife accused him of insider trading had apparently put the talks on hold. A judge dismissed the case earlier this week, though, and sources said that clears the way for the lease signing to take place within days. SAC, which may get naming rights as part of the deal, is currently located at 540 Madison Avenue. [more]
With a net worth of $22 billion, David Koch, executive vice president of consumer products conglomerate Koch Industries, is the richest man in New York, beating out the $18.1 billion Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s runner-up for that title, and the $16 billion hedge fund king John Paulson, in third. But according to Forbes’ 2011 list of the world’s billionaires, New York is home to a whopping 68 individuals with net worths in the 10- and 11-digit range, and naturally, many of them made their fortunes in New York City real estate (see The Real Deal’s November 2010 cover story, “Billionaire’s real estate club”). Click here for the latest list of the industry’s richest. TRD
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the most powerful man in New York City — so says the New York Observer, which released its annual list of the top 150 most powerful New Yorkers. This year’s ranking included 24 influential real estate players, including real estate PR bigwigs Howard and Steve Rubenstein of Rubenstein Communications (ranked 17th and 78th, respectively), Donald Trump (19th), Boston Properties honcho Mort Zuckerman (20th), Tishman Speyer co-founder Jerry Speyer, Prudential Douglas Elliman CEO Dottie Herman (53rd) and Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of the Corcoran Group (89th). The list included a handful of surprises, as well. TRD [more]
From the November issue: The nine New York City real estate titans that earned ink on this year’s Forbes 400 list have a combined worth of nearly $21 billion, a sum surpassing the GDP of dozens of sovereign countries. Together, they control hundreds of millions of square feet of real estate the world over — and their collective portfolio includes several newspapers, magazines, at least one cable channel, an NFL franchise and a small fleet of private jets.
To be sure, all nine members of the Forbes list have shown extreme generosity over the years, and their names dot the city’s landscape, from the LeFrak Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital to the Leonard Stern Business School and the Sheldon Solow Library at New York University.
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Mortimer Zuckerman and 510 Madison Avenue[Updated: 8:27 p.m., Aug. 22, 2010 and 2:32 a.m., Aug. 21, 2010] Boston Properties said today that it has agreed to buy Harry Macklowe’s embattled [more]
