Finance REITs
$2B Deal for Pair of NYC Offices Reportedly Falls Through
Nov 18, 2008
By: Adam Perrotta, News Writer

Two New York City office properties are back on the market, as a deal under which George Comfort & Sons would have acquired the assets--1540 Broadway and Worldwide Plaza--for some $2 billion has fallen through.

The sale agreement was originally reached in mid-September, and at the time, was partially contingent on NBC leasing a large portion of Worldwide Plaza, which is located at 825 Eight Avenue. That lease never happened, and the deal has been nixed, according to Crain’s New York.

With the original deal now dead, the buildings have begun to be remarketed. Crain’s cited experts who pegged the likely sale price of the assets at $1.2 billion given the current economic turmoil and credit freeze. It is unclear if George Comfort & Sons will re-bid on the buildings at a lower price.

The aborted sale is the latest chapter in the saga of the former Equity Office Properties portfolio, a group of seven Manhattan office properties acquired for $7 billion by Macklowe Properties in 2007. Macklowe ran into trouble paying back short term loans for the investment, and in February of 2008, a group of lenders headed by Deutsche Bank repossessed the properties. Since then, five of the seven assets have been sold at a significant loss compared to what Macklowe acquired them for.

 
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