John Hancock Tower

Mortimer Zuckerman’s Boston Properties agreed to acquire the iconic John Hancock Tower and Garage in Boston, Mass., for $930 million, with a closing expected in the fourth quarter of 2010, the firm announced today. The seller is a joint venture between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners. The company is paying $289.5 million in cash and is assuming $640.5 million in debt. Boston Properties expects to incur approximately $2 million in acquisition-related costs. The seller has agreed to fund and complete the cost of certain capital projects and tenant improvements that are currently underway. The John Hancock Tower is an iconic 62-story office tower with approximately 1.7 million of rentable square feet, located in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. TRD

Boston Properties head Mort Zuckerman

Boston Properties has made its first office building acquisition since its buying spree in 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal, picking up a 30 percent stake in a Washington, D.C. property. But rather than celebrate, industry insiders are pointing to the relatively small size of the deal — Boston Properties is paying just $8.5 million for its portion of the 180,000-square-foot office building — a far cry from the company’s larger boom time purchases. [more]

Robert Hurst, former president of the Whitney Museum of American Art, 950 Fifth Avenue, unit 89

The limestone prewar co-op at 950 Fifth Avenue has only seven units and a reputation as a haven for billionaire bachelors — reportedly single Boston Properties CEO Mort Zuckerman lives there, and bigwigs Dennis Kozlowski, formerly of Tyco, and Jonathan Tisch of Loews Hotel are ex-residents. For a cool $29 million, one newcomer could join the pack. The 12-room duplex that belongs to Robert Hurst, a Goldman Sachs alum and former president of the Whitney Museum of American Art, hit the market today, according to Streeteasy.com. The spread, unit 89, has views of Central Park, a maid’s room and on the second floor, via a limestone staircase, three bedrooms. Hurst, now a managing director at private equity firm Crestview Partners, could not be reached for comment and Brown Harris Stevens’ Alexis Bodenheimer, who is the exclusive agent with the brokerage’s Cathy Franklin, was mum on the listing. TRD [more]

Despite racy comments about a rumored New York Times buyer and a plug
for Boston Properties Chairman and CEO Mortimer Zuckerman for U.S. Senate,
Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation chairman and CEO, got his best response
from the audience at a Real Estate Board of New York luncheon today
when he called for a push-back against New York’s powerful public
unions. The
audience of hundreds of real estate professionals in the Sheraton New
York Hotel in Midtown broke into applause when Murdoch mentioned that
the business community should challenge the powerful unions in Albany
such as those representing teachers. “Who owns and controls
Albany? It is the state employees unions,” he said. “Until business
raises more funds that won’t be turned around,” he said to applause. [more]

Mortimer Zuckerman

Mortimer Zuckerman, chairman of Boston Properties and publisher of the Daily News, is mulling a possible senate bid, according to the New York Times. Zuckerman, a known Democrat, would be angling for the seat currently occupied by Kirstein Gillibrand, who replaced Hillary Clinton in the post. Although Zuckerman’s possibly candidacy has been kept very hush-hush, inside sources said he’s considering using a poll to test popular support. If he does choose to run, Zuckerman may not be the only Democratic angling for Gillibrand’s seat — Harold Ford Jr., a former congressman from Tennessee, has been widely thought to be launching a campaign soon.

Boston Properties chairman Mortimer Zuckerman is taking some of his
money out of real estate to invest it in the New York Daily News, he
said last week. He will sell one million Boston Properties shares for
about $50 million and will use that money to buy new printing presses
for the Daily News. The sale of the shares represents about 9 percent
of Zuckerman’s holdings, a Boston Properties spokesperson said. Boston
Properties’ stock is “at the rich end of the reasonable range,” said
analyst Michael Knott. [more]