From left: Harry Macklowe, Scott Rechler and 1330 Sixth Avenue

A group of investors led by Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty has signed a contract to purchase 1330 Sixth Avenue — the 40-story office building that Canadian lender Otera Capital took back from Harry Macklowe last year — for roughly $400 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The price, though far below the $500 million Macklowe paid for it in 2006, would likely put the deal amongst the largest of the year for New York City office buildings, sources said, and could be a sign of the commercial property market’s rebound. [more]

With few commercial building sales taking place, the foreclosure
auction of the $130 million mezzanine note at the former Macklowe
Properties office tower 1330 Avenue of the Americas in April was a
critical market indicator. Kevin O’Shea, who made the winning
bid for the note on behalf of the victor, is the managing partner at
international law firm Allen & Overy’s New York office. The firm
represents Canadian pension fund Otera Capital, the owner of the note.
O’Shea also arranged the purchase of debt on the John Hancock Tower which allowed Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Partners to buy the Boston office tower in a foreclosure auction in April. O’Shea spoke to The Real Deal about the auction and tensions breaking out among mezzanine note holders, which the industry refers to as tranche warfare. [more]

William Macklowe (left) and with parents Harry and Linda (right)

From the June issue: In June 2008, William “Billy” Macklowe ousted his legendary father,
Harry, as chairman and CEO of Macklowe Properties. A year later,
instead of moving the company forward, the younger Macklowe is still
putting out the fires that were set during the final tumultuous years
of his father’s reign. For months, Macklowe has fought to stave off the seizure of the
former Drake Hotel site at Park Avenue and 56th Street by Deutsche
Bank, which filed to foreclose in August 2008 after the company
defaulted on a $543 million loan meant to finance the redevelopment of
the site into condominiums and retail stores.
Also, in April, Macklowe lost the Financial Times building at 1330
Sixth Avenue, after defaulting on a $130 million mezzanine loan issued
by Otera Capital. The Montreal-based firm, a subsidiary of Canada’s
largest pension fund, acquired the tower from Macklowe for $100,000 and
the assumption of the building’s $240 million mortgage. [more]