How much is 58 years of marriage worth? $1 billion if you’re Harry Macklowe.
That’s how much the developer of 432 Park Avenue and 1 Wall Street offered his wife, Linda Macklowe, last year to walk away from their decades-long union — only to be rebuffed and served with divorce papers instead, according to the New York Post.
“As soon as this divorce is over, I’m getting remarried,” Macklowe said Tuesday, following a divorce hearing at Manhattan Civil Court.
Macklowe left his wife last year for Patricia Landeau, a museum director in her early 60s whom Macklowe reportedly “hid” for two years at his development at 737 Park Avenue.
With no prenup, Harry and Linda Macklowe are fighting over a vast fortune that includes $1 billion worth of art, which Linda controls. Amid the divorce proceedings, Harry also sued their son, Billy, for allegedly breaching fiduciary duties related to their business operations and usurping control of his father’s websites.
After the hearing on Tuesday, the developer entertained reporters with a series of husband-and-wife jokes. After suggesting that his audience check out his act on the website OldJewsTellingJokes.com, he lamented that his soon-to-be ex-wife never laughed at his jokes.
Linda and her lawyers declined to comment Tuesday.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Laura Drager asked Linda for information to determine the value of Harry’s real estate empire, and urged both sides to “move this forward expeditiously.”
[NYP] — E.B. Solomont