Newsweek explains why the building churns through owners even as its value collapses, and what that means for the state of American commercial real estate (hint: it's not good):

... The saga of the Hancock Tower may seem like a classic case of how, when you're using lots of debt, the difference between genius and idiocy can be a matter of luck and timing. Highly leveraged bull-market traders always get caught out when there's a swift correction. But among property magnates, Lawlor was merely the first—and he wasn't doing anything the lions of the industry weren't. ...