MetLife to Sell Sears Tower

[DustMolecule]

NEW YORK - Insurance giant MetLife Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to sell the Sears Tower in Chicago to an unspecified buyer, ending the company's long-standing investment in the nation's tallest skyscraper.

MetLife spokesman John Calagna said the company entered into a confidentiality agreement with the buyer and won't disclose the price or the name of the acquiring company.

"This is a very good deal for company," Calagna said. "We're always looking at our real estate portfolio; it's a very favorable marketplace right now and we took that into account, so it was the right decision to sell this building at this time."

Sears Tower is a 110-story landmark in downtown Chicago.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040311/ap_on_bi_ge/metlife_sears_tower_2

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Is it common practice not to disclose the price or name of the acquiring company? Will this information become 'public record' once the transaction is finalized?

[kalian]

1. I'm guessing the buyer's name as "silverstein"....

the same asshole that owned the WTC...

[DustMolecule]

2. I'm "glad"(?) someone thought the same thing as I did...

...but nah, they wouldn't...they couldn't...would they?

:tinfoilhat: :scared:

[mobuto]

4. Asshole?

Why is he an asshole? He didn't, btw, own the WTC. The Port Authority of New York / New Jersey did. He leased it.

[kichigai usagi]

3. Just a guess...

but i'll bet that they have sold it to either the Bin Laden group or the Saudi Royal family. That way they would own terrorist proof properties.

[pfitz59]

5. Carlyle Group? bin Laden Group?

Aren't they one and the same?

[54anickel]

6. Updated story -

http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-tower12.html

snip>
The buyers, the source said, are Lloyd Goldman, Joseph Cayre and Jeffrey Feil. The same men also were named as the buyers by the Slatin Report, a Web site covering New York real estate. All are prominent but secretive Manhattan landlords.

Goldman and Cayre joined with Larry Silverstein in buying the trade center lease for $3.2 billion months before the twin towers were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Silverstein is embroiled in lawsuits over a $7.1 billion insurance payout for his ownership group. A spokesman said Silverstein is not involved in the Sears Tower deal.

snip>
MetLife did not report the sales price, saying only that the deal gives it a $90 million after-tax gain. The giant insurer held a $760 million mortgage on the property, so the sales price could exceed $850 million.

[UpInArms]

7. sounds like The Sears Tower

now has a giant bulleye target painted on it

:scared:

[54anickel]

9. Gotta love this line -

"It's still one of the best buildings in Chicago. It just has bad karma,'' said Drew Neiman, principal of the John Buck Co. and a former leasing agent for the building. He said he expects its value and rents will rise as the nation's fear of terrorism subsides.


I mean come on, fat chance of the nation's fear subsiding while Shrub's in charge. He seems to remind us daily! He's turned enough bad Karma loose against the US that it will take decades for us to overcome it.

[mobuto]

12. You'd be surprised

how few investors believe that Bush will remain President for more than the next nine months. These guys are buying the Sears Tower in anticipation of a Kerry victory. That'll mean terrorism fears subside.

[kalian]

10. Wow....how convenient....

bye-bye Sears tower...

[PaDUer]

11. How much of an

insurance policy on the bldg?

[Walt Starr]

8. I read this article while sitting in my office located in the Sears Tower

Of course, I knew this deal was in the works, but I'm unconcerned.