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35 Billion Building Up For Sale

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by Felix Salmon
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Feb 14 2008 12:00am EDT

$3.5 Billion Building Up for Sale

The most expensive building in the world is up for sale, with a $3.5 billion price tag. Its owner, Harry Macklowe, has been served a default notice, which has forced him to put his greatest asset on the block. It'll be fascinating to see how much it goes for, in the end: Macklowe bought the building in 2003 for $1.4 billion, which gives you an idea of how much of a run-up there was in commercial property.

When the building's sold, I have a feeling that the purchase price will set and hold the most-expensive-building record for some time. Appetite for big real-estate deals has largely been lost now that the liquidity for funding them has dried up, and people who own iconic skyscrapers tend not to want to sell them in any case.

In this particular instance, I suspect there's going to be no shortage of men with large egos wanting to own this property and doing everything in their power to line up the needed funding. Or you never know - given the times we live in, it might end up being sold to a sovereign wealth fund. I wonder what Evan Bayh would think of that.

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