Rockefeller Owners Form Recovery Plan : Real estate: Proposal teams them with New York company to buy landmark’s mortgage and end bankruptcy.

Rockefeller Group Inc. teamed up with real estate firm Tishman Speyer Properties Inc. on Thursday in a proposal that would allow New York’s famed Rockefeller Center to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The plan would give Tishman Speyer, a major New York real estate concern, a stake in the premier Manhattan property, which is owned by two Rockefeller Group partnerships that filed for bankruptcy in May because they were unable to pay the mortgage on the property.

The announcement came a day after a group led by Chicago investor Samuel Zell announced it was seeking to buy a 50% stake in the company that owns the $1.3-billion mortgage, giving it a shot at owning the property if it foreclosed.

The Zell group includes Walt Disney Co., which is trying to increase its profile in New York.

The Rockefeller Group is 80% owned by Mitsubishi Estate Co. and 20% by the Rockefeller family. Its partnerships that own Rockefeller Center have not made payments on the mortgage since the bankruptcy.

The plan by the Rockefeller Group and Tishman Speyer would allow them to own the property, as they are proposing to buy the underlying mortgage.

Their investor group would buy the mortgage from Rockefeller Center Properties Inc. for $975 million and a 21% equity interest in a newly formed company to be controlled by Tishman Speyer.

The famed property would be 21% owned by the current mortgage holders, with the remainder split among Tishman Speyer, Mitsubishi and the Rockefeller family trusts. The proposed breakdown of ownership was not released.

Tishman Speyer said it had received enough interest from investors to carry out the deal.

The deal would be subject to agreement with Rockefeller Center Properties, a real estate investment trust whose sole income comes from the mortgage, and to Bankruptcy Court approval.

Rockefeller Center Properties has been trying to work out a plan over the past few months to get through its own cash crunch and avoid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

On Tuesday, Rockefeller Center Properties said Zell, a Chicago real estate investor, was leading a group to put $250 million into the company in return for a 50% stake.

The Zell investment would help Rockefeller Center Properties avoid a bankruptcy filing and give the Zell group a chance at ownership of the properties.

Rockefeller Center Properties Vice President Stephanie Young confirmed that the real estate investment trust had received the proposal from the Rockefeller Group and Tishman Speyer.

She said the trust had not entered talks about the plan yet and was unlikely to do so until the trust’s board had a chance to carefully review the plan.

Separately, Gotham Partners LP, a New York investment firm, said it had purchased a 5.5% stake in Rockefeller Center Properties and intends to explore alternatives to the Zell deal.

Rockefeller Center Properties stock gained 75 cents to $7.625 on the New York Stock Exchange.