Content area
Full Text
STEPHEN E. ESTROFF is enjoying himself, although he hasn't had a day off in months. He's got a job to do that "clings to you, just like a fur ball," but he says it's fun.
Estroff, a real estate lawyer since 1965, is the court-appointed "special master" handling the auctions of three top-drawer Manhattan buildings formerly owned by the late Ferdinand Marcos, the ousted president of the Philippines, and his wife, Imelda. One of the buildings, Herald Center, is scheduled to be auctioned Wednesday; another, 40 Wall Street, goes on the block - for the second time - next Monday. No date has been set for the third, the glamorous Crown Building at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.
A special master, Estroff explains, is someone appointed by the federal court "to deal with a thorny problem" - in this case, arranging the sale of property where ownership is bitterly disputed and information on its financial condition isn't easy to come by. That may not sound like much, but in the intricate world of New York real estate, it's an enormous task.
Part of Estroff's job as special master is to gather all the information that bidders need to evaluate the buildings. He also has to advertise the auctions and eliminate any problems with the buildings' titles. If a judge were to do all the investigating, negotiating and cajoling, the hunting for documents, the gentle arm-twisting required, the judge would have time for nothing else.
"You can't go too far away and work on other things because it has a compelling reach," Estroff said in an interview. "There's always some sort of little crisis . . . the buildings have been in constant turmoil."
Since Marcos and his wife fled the Philippines in 1986, the buildings have been claimed by enough people to fill several courtrooms. Building maintenance and improvements have languished while the battles rage, so the court decided to hold auctions and put the money into escrow, thus enabling the battles to be fought over money instead of property. Meanwhile, new owners could get to work fixing up the buildings.
The story behind the auctions - the tale of the competing ownership claims - is better than any script for "Dallas" or "Dynasty,"...