Tishman Speyer's Fantastically Bad Year

Over the weekend both Crains and the New York Times considered the state of national real estate company Tishman Speyer, which now has at least five high-profile projects in serious trouble. The biggest debacle was the $5.4 billion Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village purchase: The Tishman Speyer venture that purchased the NYC development is now in default on the project, while pension fund Calpers' $500 million investment in Stuy Town is now "worthless," according to the Times. Meanwhile, Crains also points out the developer's troubles in Playa Vista (they are also in default on the loan), and Tishman's purchase of Archstone. Crains on the Archstone deal: "Another of the disappointments is Archstone-Smith, a nationwide operator of apartment buildings that Tishman Speyer and partner Lehman Brothers purchased in 2007 for $22 billion. The overleveraged deal needed a $500 million cash infusion within about 18 months." But before schadenfreude sets in, consider how the company did in the boom times. Via the paper: "The Speyers argue that a few bad deals have to be put within a larger context for a company that has made money for its investors during good times and bad. Tishman Speyer sold $12 billion worth of buildings for enormous profit during a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007."
· Tishman Speyer under fire [Crains]
· Playa Vista, California [Tishman Speyer]
· Buying Landmarks? Easy. Keeping Them? Maybe Not [New York Times]