Wall Street Journal

If the published reports are accurate, the sale would comprise the final chapter in the Macklowe/EOP portfolio saga, widely considered a poster child for highly leveraged deals that were cut at the peak of the market and then went off the rails as the credit markets seized up in 2008. Macklowe Properties acquired the seven-building, 6.5-million-square-foot portfolio for $7 billion in February 2007, reportedly putting up only $50 million of equity. A year later, Macklowe relinquished control of these assets to Deutsche Bank, which had provided $5.8 billion in financing. The agreement was reached shortly after Macklowe put its flagship General Motors Building at 767 Fifh Ave. on the block.

In May of '08, an investment group led by Boston Properties paid $3.95 billion for the GM Building and three other Macklowe assets that were not part of the EOP portfolio: the 292,000-square-foot 540 Madison Ave. building at Madison and 55th Street; a 591,000-square-foot office building at 125 W. 55th St.; and the 664,000-sf Two Grand Central Tower at 44th Street between Lexington and Third avenues. The following month, San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties closed on a $930-million deal for two of the EOP trophies: the 610,000-sf Park Avenue Tower at 56 E. 55th St. and the 562,567-square-foot 850 Third Ave.

The Paramount Group in August '08 finalized its $1.45-billion buy of Macklowe's 1.8-million-square-foot 1301 Ave. of the Americas, another building in the EOP portfolio. In September, Mitsui Fudosan acquired 527 Madison Ave. for $225 million and Chicago-based Transwestern purchased 126 E. 56th St. for $160 million.

Finally, in March of this year, CBRE Investors acquired 1540 Broadway for a reported $355 million. The dollar amount, which Real Capital Analytics' Dan Fasulo called "a pretty harsh price for a well-located building," was slightly more than one-third of the $950 million valuation Macklowe assigned to the 1.1-million-square-foot property in '07.

The 47-story, 1.6-million-square-foot Worldwide Plaza, at West 49th Street and Eighth Avenue, counts law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore and advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather among its largest tenants. However, Ogilvy will be relocating its headquarters to 636 Eleventh Ave. in a deal for more than 550,000 square feet of space that was signed last year, and there are other sizeable blocks of vacant space at the 47-story property.

Instant Insights /

Reports: Worldwide Plaza Finds a Buyer

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