State Attorney General Letitia James seizes President Donald Trump’s home 40 Wall Street As his largest real estate asset to date, the damage to New York City will be even more severe.
The troubled but functioning landmark office building will become an empty white elephant in Lower Manhattan, already reeling from an exodus of tenants to Uptown.
“if 40 wall No sane person, tenant or buyer, would go near it if there was ultimately nowhere to go,” said a real estate agent who does business there. “That would require a huge amount of work and there would be too much uncertainty.”
It’s important to remember that a previous government takeover caused the Cursed Tower to fall into 10 years of turmoil. The risks are even higher as downtowns struggle with an all-time high vacancy rate of 30%.
In 1986, federal authorities requisitioned the building after it was discovered that it was secretly owned by corrupt Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The move sparked a series of failed auctions, foreclosures, lawsuits and corruption that cast a long, dark shadow over the financial district for a decade.
Tenants moved out one after another, and by the mid-1990s, 80% of the building was vacant. The turnaround began in 1995, when Trump bought the leasehold property at a low price — although exactly how much is disputed.
He restored it and attracted new tenants. But then, when his interests turned to television and politics, his real estate company ignored it.
Duane Reade, the largest retail tenant at more than 20,000 square feet, moved out last fall, a devastating blow to dwindling rent rolls.
The once-proud tower is now probably worth $200 million, brokers say, less than half its estimated value a decade ago.
Of course, James and his Albany guys definitely know how to solve that.
Foreclosures of buildings are common in China, where Xi’s government buys out real estate agents whose owners either taunt their bosses in Beijing or make too much money for their own benefit.
god save 40 Wall Street — and the city — from our local commissioners.
