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By Matt Chaban 9/14/11 3:51pm

Maybe they should replace the copper with gold. (Wired New York)

Load of Bullion! Trump Takes 40 Wall Street Deposit in Gold, Blames Obama

Even though he left the presidential race four months ago, Donald Trump is still taking pot-shots at the president. The latest is an unusual lease agreement at one of his properties, 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. For the $176,000 deposit on a new 10 year lease, the Journal reports that the tenant will be handing over three 32-ounce bars of pure gold each “about the size of a television remote control.” (Would that be one of those big, multi-system ones, like you get with the cable box, or something slimmer?) Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/15/11 11:27am

Machers

Mark Holliday, SL Green CEO and knight in shining armor.

SL Green, Joe Moinian’s BFF

Joseph Moinian’s kingdom was assembled in a flurry of activity over the past decade, like a conquering warlord besieging New York City, overtaking some of the most valuable commercial properties. But like Alexander the Great or Napoleon Bonaparte, he overextended the empire, imperiling much of it when the recession hit. Yet thanks to an unlikely savior in SL Green, Mr. Moinian has managed to hold on to many of his most prized possessions, Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/08/11 9:18am

Machers

Great Wall Falls: Dursts Finally Leave Manhattan

Douglas Durst and his cousin Jody may be the most powerful pair in New York real estate. They’ve taken up Seymour Durst’s Midtown empire and stretched it across Manhattan, so why not try the trick on another island far, far away? Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/01/11 12:40pm

Machers

Explosive Extell Demoing West 57th Tire Tower

Gary Barnett continues to bulldoze his way across the city. Just last week, his Extell Development unveiled plans for a new tower at Riverside South; found a partner for a stalled 50-story hotel near Times Square; and secured $700 million in financing from Abu Dhabi toward One57, the condo-hotel tower on West 57th Street that will be the tallest, and likely most expensive, when it is completed. As if that were not enough, the developer has begun work just down the block on another of its long-simmering projects. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/26/11 10:16am

Machers

Joseph Moinian’s Mystery on 54th Street

The city has been eagerly awaiting the construction of Boston Properties’ new office tower at 55th Street and Eighth Avenue, an on-again-off-again project by SOM that will likely be the first new office tower of the real estate rebound. (The World Trade Center does not count, but what about Extell’s Diamond Tower?) Having secured a big MoFo as a tenant in March, Mort Zuckerman is ready to build, and The Post‘s Steve Cuozzo reports building permits were just approved for 250 West 55th Street, “paving the way for full-bore work.” But the more exciting news at the corner could be Joe Moinian’s gambit across the street. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/22/11 1:25pm

Machers

No Wonder Blackstone’s Boss Just Bought a $25 M. Co-op

On Tuesday, The Observer reported Tony James had bought a duplex at 834 Fifth, that godly Upper East Side edifice. Perhaps it was a present to himself for how well The Blackstone Group, which he has run for the past few years alongside Steve Schwarzman, is now doing. Read More

By The Editors 5/03/11 1:00pm

Machers

The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate

This list in 2009 and 2010 reflected a recessionary New York, one thoroughly upended by economic maelstroms like high unemployment and the odd major bank collapse. No one had need of more office space; no one had financing for investments; no one had much to do save get on the blower and commiserate, or, on Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/27/11 12:01am

Machers

The Busybody of the Beresford: Bill Ackman Fixed His Own Image—and Now He’ll Fix You!

“I want to have one of the great investment records of all time, why not?” Bill Ackman, founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management said nonchalantly over breakfast one Saturday in early April.

He had just come from two hours of tennis on Randall’s Island, still in his sweat-stained black nylon warm-up pants, for Read More

By Laura Kusisto 1/19/11 7:06pm

Machers

Acceptance Speeches: Chatting With the Big Shots REBNY Plans to Honor

Leslie Wohlman Himmel
Managing Partner, Himmel + Meringoff Properties
Leslie Himmel met her business partner, Steve Meringoff, at a lecture at N.Y.U., where she was the first one to raise her hand and ask the speaker, Harry Helmsley, a question. “What’s been your greatest achievement to date?”

Mr. Meringoff was so impressed with her “moxie,” Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/18/11 11:42pm

Machers

Facade Face-Off! Malkins Fixed Up Building, Now Owner Wants Them Out

Last year was a busy one for Tony Malkin, and 2011 is looking to be more of the same. He was embroiled in a minor scandal for refusing to light his landmark Empire State Building in honor of Mother Teresa’s centennial. A few months later, Malkin, seeking to protect views of his tower, was unable to Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/10/11 4:52pm

Machers

While Many Still Limp, Durst Walks 40 Stories Tall Down Sixth Avenue

In a recent article in The Times, developer Douglas Durst complained that too many of New York’s fallen developers—the Macklowes and Eichners and Glucks of the world—were getting off too easy from the bursting of the real estate bubble, as they recapitalized and returned to the work of building. “That has Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/10/11 2:43pm

Machers

Billy Macklowe Makes His First Buy Without Dad

Back in the fall, The Observer profiled development scion William Macklowe as he stepped out on his own. His father, Harry, along with Billy, had lost much of the Macklowe empire in the bursting of the real estate bubble, and parting ways seemed best. He launched the William Macklowe Company last year. “So much Read More

By Matt Chaban 1/03/11 10:44pm

Machers

Developers! They’re Not Like Us

Ever since the credit crisis hit and the real estate market collapsed, the news has been filled with disgraced developers–including in these very pages. Yet for every plucked chicken, there seems to be an equal number of phoenixes who, year after year, decade after decade, return from the construction graveyard to build again. (The Observer, Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/15/10 5:58pm

Machers

Can Bill Rudin Really Revive St. Vincent’s? Probably Not

Bill Rudin has not given up on dearly departed St. Vincent’s Hospital, according to The Journal. The third-generation developer, looking to live up to the great works of his pops and pop-pop, is “working quietly to salvage his ambitious project,” which includes a condo tower and a number of smaller apartments and townhouses Read More