Macklowe’s Woes Continue as Firm Forfeits Another NYC Tower 

Macklowe Properties’ financial troubles continue to chip away at the firm’s New York City office portfolio. A month after having to sell off a major Manhattan tower, the company has just lost the 525,000-square-foot office building at 1330 Avenue of the Americas in a foreclosure auction. Montreal-based mortgage lender Otera Capital, which held a $130 million mezzanine loan on the property, placed a $100,000 bid and walked away from the auction as the new owner. Macklowe had defaulted on its $130 million loan with Otera, as well as its $240 million mezzanine debt with another lender, which Otera has now assumed. Apparently, competition to acquire the building was either weak or nonexistent. “We put in the bid for $100,000 and we got it,” Marie Giguere, Otera vice president, told CPN. With the buy, Otera also assumes the $240 million senior mortgage. Also known as 1330 Sixth Avenue, 1330 Avenue of the Americas sits in the city’s Rockefeller Plaza district and has been part of Macklowe’s portfolio since late 2006 when the real estate concern acquired the 40-story high-rise from Deka Immobilien for $498 million. According to Giguere, 1330 Sixth is presently 67 to 69 percent leased. Otera plans to bring in a new team to handle leasing, and the lender will hold on to the property for the foreseeable future. “Because of the state of the market, we’ll be patient,” Giguere said. “It’s a very nice building. It’s been renovated; it’s in very good shape and it’s well located. I think it’s well positioned on a long-term basis.” The sale of 1330 Sixth comes on the heels CB Richard Ellis Investors’ acquisition of Macklowe’s 905,000-square-foot office condominium interest in 1540 Broadway from a Macklowe creditor in early March for a reported bargain basement price of $355 million. Macklowe has been struggling to recover from the financially debilitating consequences of its $7 billion purchase of an eight-property, 6.5 million-square-foot former Equity Office Properties portfolio from private equity concern Blackstone in early 2007.