Zeckendorf Retreats

The reputation of William Zeckendorf, 58, as an irrepressible trader in land, leases and buildings hurt him last week in Canada. Under pressure from his north-of-the-border partners, he resigned as chairman of both Webb & Knapp (Canada), which is 63.5% owned by Zeckendorfs Manhattan-based Webb & Knapp Inc., and of Montreal's Trizec Corp., which is 49% owned by Webb & Knapp (Canada).

Like their U.S. parent, the two companies founded by Zeckendorf have fallen on lean times. Last year Webb & Knapp (Canada) lost $1,264,000, in part because of a slide in Canadian real-estate prices, and Trizec lost $2,877,000 because costs of constructing its $100 million Place Ville Marie--Montreal's Rockefeller Center--overshot estimates by $25 million.

In an attempt to conserve cash, Webb & Knapp (Canada) wants to pay the holders of its debentures in interest notes instead of dollars over the next three years and promises to undertake no new projects. But Canadian moneymen were skeptical that Impresario Zeckendorf could really restrain himself. So "Big Bill" had to go. His exit at Trizec followed virtually automatically, and the departure was sweet revenge for Britain's Second Covent Garden Properties Co. Ltd., which has a 24.5% interest in Trizec; six representatives of Second Covent Garden had been forced off the board of the U.S.'s Webb & Knapp by Zeckendorf last year. Zeckendorf was less concerned about his Canadian setback than his crash drive to rescue Manhattan's Webb & Knapp from its dangerous debt load. He has already sold off $75 million worth of assets, but must sell $75 million more. His biggest test comes this week when 25 of his properties in New York City will be auctioned.

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