Word: zeckendorfs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Manhattan's William Zeckendorf, 57, buys properties the way other people buy record albums. The trouble is that Zeckendorf's base of operations, the New York realty firm of Webb & Knapp, Inc., has sometimes been barely a step ahead of its creditors. It seemed a healthy and restraining influence on Zeckendorf's unorthodox dealings when 13 months ago he took on as his partners the London real estate firm of Second Covent Garden Properties Co. Ltd.-in return for $43,750,000 in needed cash and loan guarantees that Second Covent pumped into Zeckendorf...
Last week, conceding that his wheeling and dealing "might not be a proper Englishman's cup of tea," ebullient Bill Zeckendorf announced Evacuation Day for the hapless British. He acknowledged that his three British representatives, as well as three Americans whom the British had named to the board, had resigned as directors (though the British hold on to their 15% of Webb & Knapp stock). The British had found Zeckendorf impossible to harness or control. Barely controlling his own glee at having shucked off his British advisers, Zeckendorf piously admitted: "They thought that they could reform...
...Webb & Knapp of its bothersome short-term debts, the British had demanded that Zeckendorf sell some of Webb & Knapp's holdings. But Zeckendorf's idea of liquidation differed from his partners': though he sold some holdings, he kept right on buying others (among the purchases: $25 million for Manhattan's Savoy Hilton Hotel). Outraged, the British sent to New York a relay of executives, who camped out in Zeckendorf's Madison Avenue offices to try to halt his acquisitions. But, in his own inimitable way, Zeckendorf confounded the British Expeditionary Force. He made his deals...
Later in the week, Zeckendorf retrenched still more, sold off one-third of Manhattan's Savoy Hilton Hotel (which he owns, but which is managed by Hilton) to London Merchant Securities, Ltd., a British investment trust. He has also agreed to sell 850 acres of development land in California...
Behind all this retrenchment, the restraining hand of the British is visible. Says Henry R. Moore, vice chairman of London's Second Covent Garden Property Co., a director of Britain's Philip Hill group, and the Englishman in charge of keeping watch on Zeckendorf: "The program is to spend the next three to five years developing the property we now have. We have absolutely no intention of making any further purchases." Zeckendorf says he feels the same way. With the British holding a veto in Zeckendorf Property, he could hardly say otherwise. Besides, after all those years...