Harry B. Macklowe

Early life

Macklowe was born to a Jewish family, the son of a garment executive from Westchester County, New York. He graduated from New Rochelle High School in 1955, and attended the University of Alabama, New York University, and the School of Visual Arts before dropping out, in 1960, to become a real estate broker. In 1959, he married Linda Burg, a doctor's daughter. She worked as an editorial assistant at Doubleday. Together, they moved into a garden apartment in Brooklyn, where Harry developed an interest in the landlord's brownstone-renovation business, and the landlord encouraged 21-year-old Harry, steering him into the job as a real estate broker.

Career

Macklowe quickly transitioned from broker to builder. Keenly interested in architecture and modern art, he soon became known for developing sleek modernistic buildings such as Metropolitan Tower in Midtown Manhattan, as well as for his starkly white minimalist offices. In 1985, Macklowe was fined $2 million for demolishing four buildings in Times Square in the middle of the night.

In 2003, Macklowe bought the General Motors Building for a record $1.4 billion. The value of the skyscraper soon doubled after he persuaded Apple to build a subterranean Apple retail store beneath the building's plaza, an idea he personally and successfully pitched to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs then proposed that the entrance to the sunken store be a 32-foot tall-glass cube, which the city approved and was opened to the public in 2006.

In February 2007, during the peak of the real estate market, Macklowe purchased seven Manhattan skyscrapers for $6.8 billion from the Blackstone Group. He used $50 million of his own money and financed the rest with $7 billion in short-term loans (due in February 2008) from Deutsche Bank and the publicly traded hedge fund the Fortress Investment Group. Among the buildings forfeited were the General Motors Building (which collateralized the loan) and the Credit Lyonnais Building.

In 2013, Macklowe and Steve Witkoff purchased the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South in Manhattan for $660 million.

Criticism

Several Macklowe developments have received criticism when they were developed. For instance, when Metropolitan Tower was developed in the late 1980s, Paul Goldberger called it "the least respectful of the architectural traditions" in its vicinity, The comments about Metropolitan Tower in particular led Macklowe to express dissatisfaction at architectural criticism directed toward his buildings "just because I'm a developer and we do the architecture ourselves".

Several architectural critics, social media influencers, and journalists have commented on 432 Park Avenue's "ugly" design. After 432 Park Avenue was completed in the late 2010s, there were allegations of structural deficiencies, such as leaks and defective elevators, in the building. A proposed Macklowe Properties building, Tower Fifth, has similarly received backlash for its unattractive design; several critics claimed Macklowe was "ruining" the New York skyline.

Personal life

On January 4, 1959, Macklowe married Linda Burg. After over 50 years of marriage in 2016, Burg filed for divorce. In 2019 after a contentious, $2 billion divorce, he remarried to Patricia Lazar-Landeau. Macklowe put a massive picture of himself and his new wife on the corner of 432 Park Avenue, in what was widely seen as an insult to his former wife.

Following the high-profile divorce, the pair's extensive collection of artwork from artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly was auctioned off by Sotheby's in two parts as part of a court order in November 2021. Estimated at a $600 million value, the first half of the collection sold for even more; at auction, it brought in $676 million. Sotheby's called it the most valuable single-owner auction ever conducted. On May 16, 2022, when Sotheby's held part two of the sale, the auction house hit what it called a record for a private art collection sold at auction, bringing the total to $922 million, with fees.

The Macklowes have two children: William S. Macklowe and Elizabeth Macklowe. William replaced his father as President of Macklowe Properties in 2008. He and his wife belong to the Jewish Center of the Hamptons synagogue. In 1993, William married and divorced the American fashion designer Tory Burch. In 2004, William married Julie Lerner in a Jewish ceremony at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. Elizabeth was married to and divorced from Kent Swig, son of fellow real estate developer Melvin Swig.

References

References

1. Rubinstein, Dana. (July 14, 2009). "'Old Jew' Harry Macklowe Tells a Joke (Updated)".
2. Bagli, Charles V.. (March 11, 1998). "Man With Past Speculates on Future; Without Renters in Place, Macklowe Plans a Manhattan Office Tower". The New York Times.
3. (February 7, 2020). "The Macklowe Marriage is over in NY".
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5. Gottlieb, Martin. (January 10, 1985). "Nighttime Demolition Leaves a 44th St. Mystery". The New York Times.
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7. "Interview with Steve Jobs on the opening of the Fifth Avenue Apple store". CNBC.
8. Forsyth, Jennifer S.. (February 1, 2008). "Real-Estate Credit Crisis Squeezes Macklowe". Wall Street Journal.
9. Rubinstein, Dana. (June 10, 2008). "Two Macklowe Towers Sell for Just Under $1 B.; Another To Go for $1.45 B.".
10. Matt A.V. Chaban (April 6, 2015). [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/nyregion/a-dental-hub-with-views-to-swoon-over-may-go-on-the-market.html?searchResultPosition=8 "A Dental Hub With Central Park Views May Go on the Market,"] ''The New York Times''.
11. Goldberger, Paul. (April 30, 1986). "Carnegie Hall Details Plans for Office Tower". The New York Times.
12. {{cite NY2000
13. Gleason, Will. (March 10, 2016). "New York's ugliest luxury condo tower is the third-tallest building in the US".
14. Chen, Stefanos. (February 3, 2021). "The Down Side to Life in a Supertall Tower: Leaks, Creaks, Breaks". The New York Times.
15. Young, Michael. (November 28, 2020). "Renderings and New Details Revealed for Macklowe's Tower Fifth, in Midtown".
16. Solomont, E.B.. (March 7, 2019). "Mazel tov! Macklowe celebrates nuptials with massive portrait at 432 Park". The Real Deal.
17. (April 6, 2017). "Billionaire launches into stand-up comedy routine after offering wife half his fortune to go away". News.com.au.
18. (September 9, 2021). "Become an FT subscriber to read {{!}} Financial Times". Financial Times.
19. Palumbo, Jacqui. (May 17, 2022). "Following a high-profile divorce, this $600-million art collection is coming to market".
20. Pogrebin, Robin. (November 15, 2021). "Blue-Chip Art From Bitter Macklowe Divorce Brings $676 Million at Sotheby's". The New York Times.
21. (May 17, 2022). "The Macklowe Collection Tops $922 Million at Auction". The New York Times.
22. (September 18, 2003). "Paid Notice: Deaths BURG, LILLIAN". The New York Times.
23. Pristin, Terry. (June 13, 2008). "Shift in Family Management at a New York Developer". The New York Times.
24. [http://www.jcoh.org/upload/August_Bulletin_2012_final_with_thank_you30889_56.pdf Jewish Center of the Hamptons Bulletin] {{webarchive. link. (January 30, 2016 August 2012)
25. (January 31, 1993). "ENGAGEMENTS; Tory Robinson, W. S. Macklowe". The New York Times.
26. (November 21, 2004). "Julie Lerner, William Macklowe". The New York Times.
27. Gregorian, Dareh. (March 15, 2013). "New York real estate titans' family feud: Kent Swig claims father-in-law Harry Macklowe forged signature on $270,000 worth of insurance checks".