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Return to Lender: Week of August 8, 2024
- Urban Edge Properties has lost the Kingswood Center mixed-use property in Brooklyn to foreclosure, reported Trepp. The REIT had purchased the property, at 1630 East 15th St. in the borough’s Midwood section, in 2020 for $88.8 million, subject to the assumption of a $65.5-million securitized mortgage. Last August the property was placed in the hands of a receiver, Investment Property Realty Group of New York. Earlier this year, the property was appraised at a value of $49.1 million.
- An unidentified investor submitted the high bid of $8.5 million, or just more than $9/sf, for the 920,000-square-foot former Sports Illustrated office building at 135 W. 50th St. in Midtown Manhattan, Trepp reported, citing The New York Times. The building is owned by UBS Realty Investors, which acquired a leasehold interest in it in 2006 for $332.85 million. At the time, the building was 80% occupied. UBS then acquired the ground lease for $279 million in 2012, and sold it to Safehold in 2019 for $285 million. The property is now 35% occupied. UBS earlier this year put the building up for sale through JLL Capital Markets, which took offers last Wednesday on the Ten-X auction platform. It had set a $7.5 million minimum bid. Whether the $8.5 million high bid met the reserve price set by UBS couldn’t be determined.
- The Houston Business Journal reported that one of Houston’s most recognizable downtown office complexes has a new owner following a foreclosure auction. Houston-based Interra Capital Group paid an undisclosed amount to acquire the historic Esperson complex at 808 Travis St., which includes the Niels and the Mellie Esperson buildings. Although terms of the transaction were not disclosed, Harris Central Appraisal District records said the complex had an assessed value for tax purposes of $42.5 million as of Jan. 1. The 600,000-square-foot Esperson complex has been owned by Houston-based Cameron Management since 2012, when it acquired the property from Seligman Enterprises.
- Los Angeles County has tentatively agreed to pay $215 million for the Gas Company Building in Downtown LA, the Los Angeles Times reported. The sale must still be approved by the county’s Board of Supervisors. If the sale goes through, the county would move workers and services out of existing county offices. The 52-story office tower at 555 5th St. was appraised at $632 million in 2020. The property’s ownership, a Brookfield Asset Management affiliate, defaulted on its debt last year and the property went into receivership.
- Longfellow Real Estate Partners is at risk of eviction from its Emeryville, CA property, casting doubt on its already scaled-back plans to build a life sciences campus there. The San Francisco Business Times reported that the Boston-based life sciences developer is allegedly behind on rent payments for its 128,000-square-foot property at 1650 65th St. called the Atrium, and has not complied with a lease termination notice from its landlord, PSAI Real Estate. Longfellow entered a four-decade ground lease at the property in spring 2021, with plans for a 750,000-square-foot life sciences campus. However, the developer scaled back those plans the following fall, intending instead to renovate the existing building while also acquiring the neighboring 6601-6603 Shellmound St. Both properties appear to be vacant, the Business Times reported. Longfellow told the Business Times it’s in discussion with the landlord on a possible modification of the ground lease.
- St. James Plaza, a 148,000-square-foot San Jose, CA office property owned by WeWork founder Adam Neumann, faces an August 9 balloon maturity on the mortgage. The property has been mostly vacant for the past four years, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Its mortgage, currently with a balance of $31 million, has been in default since August 2023.
- KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (KREF) is in discussions to sell two more properties in Philadelphia’s Old City after recently unloading two buildings nearby. KREF is looking to sell the 209,700-square-foot office building at 325 Chestnut St. and the 469-spot Bourse parking garage at 400 Ranstead St, reported the Philadelphia Business Journal. The firm recently sold the Bourse building and 400 Market St. to Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds and Keystone Development and Investment for a combined $41 million. KREF, a subsidiary of New York alternative investment giant KKR, took control of the four Old City buildings in December through a deed in lieu of foreclosure from Washington, D.C.-based MRP Realty.
- Columbia Property Trust, which developed a 182,305-square-foot office building at 799 Broadway in Greenwich Village, is looking to sell it and has hired Eastdil Secured to find a buyer, Trepp reported. The 12-story building, now 71% occupied, was developed on the site of what had been the St. Denis Hotel. Columbia Property, a unit of Pacific Investment Management Co., had funded the property with a $270 million-loan from Blackstone Mortgage Trust in 2022, when the building opened. The loan has since defaulted.
- A two-year extension was approved this month for 1670 Broadway in Denver ($73.0 million | UBSCM 2018-C13 & UBSCM 2018-C14 | CMBX.12), extending the maturity to September 2025, reported Morningstar Credit. The loan, backed by a 709,415-square-foot office property in Denver, was transferred to the special servicer in August 2023 due to imminent maturity default. A November 2023 appraisal valued the property at $131.1 million, a 45% reduction from the appraised value at issuance, but still well above the outstanding loan balance. The largest tenant, TIAA (accounting for 33% of the GLA and 56% of underwritten base rent), has a lease expiration in December 2029. There’s also a $64.8-million mezzanine loan as part of the total financing.
- ◦Sale/Acquisition
