I have to call BS on this story even though I agree with the commercial property values are falling theme.
The John Hancock Tower in Boston was a very high profile auction. In 2006 it was purchased for $1.3 billion. This year it auctioned for $660 million. The article claims it sold for $20 million. I got the real price with about 1 minute of research. That is not even remotely close so I question the accuracy of the rest of the article.
A lot of these commercial real estate funds are buying up the debt in order to step in and acquire the properties when they default. I assure you nobody is acquiring 40 story skyscrapers in NYC for $100,000.