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Billionaire oilman Marvin Davis is bidding on the Amoco Building, but faces strong competition for the elegant office tower from three publicly held companies and a high-powered real estate fund.
Other final bidders from a list of 15 hopefuls include New York's Blackstone Real Estate Advisors Inc., Chicago-based Prime Group Realty Trust, Toronto-based TrizecHahn Corp. and New Jersey-based Vornado Realty Trust, real estate industry sources say.
At this stage, the bids have ranged from $400 million to $450 million, disappointing Amoco Corp. officials.
"The Amoco Building will not be sold if the price is in the $400-million-to-$450-million range because that is well below our threshold," a company spokesman says. "We feel no pressure to sell."
The price will be pushed higher when the last bids are submitted in the next two weeks, but may not reach the $500 million that some observers thought the 2.5-million-square-foot building would fetch. The Amoco spokesman would not specify the price at which the company would sell.
The chance that a group headed by Mr. Davis, a Denver wildcatter turned investor, could buy the Chicago-based energy giant's headquarters building isn't the only irony marking the list of final bidders.
Also in the running is a well-known opportunistic investor, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, which is considering selling...