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THE YEAR STARTED on a positive note for New York's beleaguered commercial real estate industry, as three big owners secured financing for their properties and one building that had been on and off the market finally found a buyer.
Last week, published reports said that Harry Macklowe teamed up with private-equity firm CIM Group to pay off creditors who held a loan on the troubled developer's site at the old Drake Hotel on Park Avenue and East 56th Street. There had been constant chatter that his lenders were going to foreclose on the site. Mr. Macklowe has already lost 12 buildings within the last two years, including the General Motors tower.
Developer Joseph Moinian, who has been struggling to...