zoonabar Chrysler Building

Is it just me or is there some bitter irony to the fact that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council is reportedly buying a 75% stake in the Chrysler Building for $800 million?

Yes, as you stand there, sweating under the heat of the summer sun and the stress of the $60 dollars you’re likely spending to top off your tank, you can take heart in the fact that your money is helping to fuel Manhattan’s commercial real estate market.

Here is a building, completed in 1930 and built to house the headquarters of the once-great American auto manufacturer, being sold to the folks who are holding a death-grip on America’s wallets. But why should I be surprised? Didn’t the wealth funds of Kuwait and Qatar help to juice a record price for the GM building?? We all know oil goes with cars, but this is taking things a bit far.

I guess I shouldn’t be upset. I mean, after all, it’s the crash of our very own credit markets that put some of these buildings up for sale anyway. I guess we have only ourselves to blame.

After all, who would have thought that a cruddy financial product designed to get less-than-credit-worthy borrowers into homes they couldn’t afford, would wind up spiraling into a situation ripe for Middle East oil money to buy up one of the great symbols of American industry and prosperity? Just my thoughts today.

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