2009’s annus horribilis

From the December issue: Following the global financial crisis at the close of 2008, most in the
New York real estate community were expecting the coming year to be
more challenging than any in recent memory. And 2009 did not
disappoint. As the year comes to a close, The Real Deal looks back at the headlines that defined 2009 — virtually all of which involved bad news for the city’s real estate industry.
Most striking, perhaps, is the extent to which 2009 saw titans of
the field toppled: The record prices paid in the boom years for
properties like Stuyvesant Town, the Apthorp and trophy office towers
such as Worldwide Plaza came to seem like bad bets. Meanwhile, many
smaller players were squeezed out of the game as the market contracted.