Nearly four years after Lehman Brothers touched off a worldwide financial crisis when it filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15, 2008, the estate of the failed investment bank continues to control more than $10 billion of real estate assets in its $40.5 billion portfolio, the New York Times reported today. Its largest asset is Archstone, the Colorado-based apartment giant whose $22 billion takeover in 2007 helped create Lehman’s fatal mountain of debt. One of the largest apartment owners in the nation, Archstone had 59,419 rental apartments in 181 properties as of March 31. Last month, Lehman registered Archstone for a public offering, hoping to use those proceeds to help pay its creditors. The company's plan has been to wait for better days in the real estate markets and eventually sell everything at prices unattainable in the financial crisis. And while Lehman was waiting for property values to recover from recessionary lows, the real estate team initiated plans to restructure troubled financing, correct other problems and fill its rentable buildings with tenants before offering them for sale.
