Word: portman
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...architects and developers have reshaped the American city as dramatically as John Portman has done in the past quarter-century. From the hulking Marriott Marquis hotel in Manhattan to the sprawling Embarcadero Center office % complex in San Francisco, Portman has left an imposing mark on urban skylines. But the Atlanta-based master of the vaulting atrium and the skylighted ceiling faces a severe cash crunch. In October, burdened by more than $2 billion in debt and hurt by low occupancy rates in many of his buildings, Portman surrendered to creditors his control of Atlanta's 13-block Peachtree Center...
...Portman is not the only highflying mogul to feel the harshness of a downward real estate cycle. In London and dozens of U.S. cities, the commercial- property market is reeling. Hundreds of empty office towers and abandoned construction sites dot downtown neighborhoods. In most places there is no new construction. Office rents are plunging, and vacancy and delinquency rates are soaring. Overleveraged developers are being forced to refinance their loans and offer sweetheart deals to prospective tenants -- free rent for a year, say, with an exercise room thrown into the bargain. Declares Richard Peiser, director of the Lusk Center...