Developer Harry Macklowe, who was infamously forced to relinquish nearly his entire real estate empire after a bad $7 billion real estate bet at the height of the market, is getting back in the game. Macklowe, who also lost a business partner in his son, William, as a result of his portfolio’s implosion, now has a new teammate in Prudential Douglas Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber. According to Crain’s, the pair just purchased the defaulted loan on a prime Midtown development site and is planning to build a residential tower there. … [more]

From left: A rendering of the Oliver’s rooftop, images of the stalled project

Bank of America filed to foreclose on two loans totaling more than $30
million provided for the development of a rental project dubbed the
Oliver to be constructed by the luxury developer Alexico Group on the
East Side. The lawsuit describes one mortgage from 2007 as the fee acquisition
loan, valued at $28.32 million, and the second as a development rights
acquisition loan from 2008, valued at $2.3 million. Both loans were originally due November 2008, but the maturity date was
extended to May 1, 2009. The loans were not repaid by that time, and
the bank notified the borrowers that the loans were in default, the
suit filed in New York State Supreme Court August 13, says. The loans cover five mid-block lots from 951 to 961 First Avenue,
between 52nd and 53rd streets, although the planned 30-story
development is only on the three northernmost lots totaling 75 feet by
100 feet, court papers and property records show. The other two lots
are occupied by five-story apartment buildings…. [more]