Sotheby's chairman wants out.A. Alfred Taubman Adolph "A." Alfred Taubman (born 1924)[1] is an American real estate developer, industrialist, and philanthropist from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a Metro Detroit area suburb. He became rich developing shopping malls, and his company is Taubman Centers Inc. , the former Sotheby's chairman facing a jail term for his part in a price fixing price fixing n. a criminal violation of federal anti-trust statutes, in which several competing businesses reach a secret agreement (conspiracy) to set prices for their products to prevent real competition and keep the public from benefiting from price competition. scheme, is reportedly seeking ways to sell or merge the auction house. Taubman is also mulling mulling (mul´ing), n the final step of mixing dental amalgam; a kneading of the triturated mass to complete the amalgamation. over the sale of his 63% voting stake in the firm--he owns 13.2 million Class B shares of the firm. As reported in Real Estate Weekly last week, Sotheby's 1334 York Ave. flagship building is itself on the auction block Taubman wants to sell the building, and one interested party is the Hospital for Special Surgery across 72nd Street, said the source. News that Taubman is seeking a buyer for Sotheby's isn't exactly news--for months the firm has sought a potential buyer. But this SEC filing is curious given the information about 1334 York's imminent sale. Were Taubman to sell the building that houses Sotheby's, the auction house might be hard-pressed to find comparable space. That is assuming that the new owner terminated their lease, terms of which are unclear. Sotheby's has occupied this space since 1980. If they signed a 30-year lease then, the buyer of the building might honor As a verb, to accept a bill of exchange, or to pay a note, check, or accepted bill, at maturity. To pay or to accept and pay, or, where a credit so engages, to purchase or discount a draft complying with the terms of the draft. it for another 8 years--or Taubman could demand such a requirement from the buyer. This would seemingly seem·ing adj. Apparent; ostensible. n. Outward appearance; semblance. seem  ing·ly adv. limit the demand for the space--the new
owner would be unable to do anything to the building until 2010.
One real estate source quoted in last week's story said that the building is more valuable if sold empty, which would be devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. for Sotheby's. The space that Christie's vacated on 59th Street was recently converted for an office tenant [see story: Hermes Takes Over Old Christie's Space, page 3], underscoring how old auction house space is difficult to reconfigure To change the status of something. for a standard office tenant. The same issue could be an obstacle for potential tenants at 1334 York Ave. as the space was recently upgraded for Sotheby's. The building underwent a full-scale renovation that was completed last year. Even if the Hospital for Special Surgery bought the building, expanding their operation to occupy that space would involve extensive renovations. A hospitals space needs are hardly compatible with those of an auction house. |
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