Content area
Full Text
MANY BUILDINGS have their ups and downs. Few, however, have made--and lost--as much money for their owners faster than the 44-story Times Square tower known as 1540 Broadway.
Time and time again over the past 22 years, the tower has demonstrated just how hard it can be to place a value on real estate--proving the adage that the real value of any property is simply what people are willing to pay for it at that moment in time.
"This building has had a difficult history, stretching back to the very beginning," says Vance Maddocks, chief executive of CB Richard Ellis Investors, which bought the tower in March. The seller was Deutsche Bank, which took the building back last year after Harry Macklowe defaulted on his mortgage.
The latest transaction valued the tower at a reported $355 million--a discount of about 63% from the $967 million Mr. Macklowe paid less than two years earlier. Worse, the deal may not have been done at all, had it not been for Deutsche Bank's willingness to finance it.
In making its bold move, CBRE Investors...