Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- New York developer Harry Macklowe, who amassed a $7 billion debt on seven Manhattan office towers a year ago, today reached agreement with creditors Deutsche Bank AG and Fortress Investment Group LLC to extend the time for repayment.

``Macklowe Properties has reached extension agreements with Fortress Investment Group and Deutsche Bank,'' spokesman Howard Rubenstein said in a two-sentence press release. He declined to comment further.

The announcement comes four days after Deutsche Bank served Macklowe with a notice of default on $3.1 billion he owes on four of the seven midtown Manhattan skyscrapers he acquired a year ago from Equity Office Properties Trust, the biggest Manhattan real estate deal ever.

Today was the deadline for bids for Macklowe's General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue in New York. Macklowe paid $1.4 billion for the property in 2003 and had pledged his stake in the building as collateral for the Fortress loan. CB Richard Ellis Inc., the world's largest real estate broker by market value, is handling the sale.

Lilly Donohue, a spokeswoman for New York-based Fortress, and John Gallagher, a Deutsche Bank spokesman, didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: David M. Levitt in New York at dlevitt@bloomberg.net; Hui-yong Yu in Seattle at hyu@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 15, 2008 18:03 EST