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Return to Lender: Week of Oct. 5, 2023
- Los Angeles-based Calmwater Capital has hired SVN Chicago Commercial to sell the vacant 112,495-square-foot property at 209-227 S. State St. In Chicago, reported Crain’s Chicago Business. An entity affiliated with Calmwater seized the vintage property in May through deed-in-lieu of foreclosure from a venture of Florida investment firm Sterling Organization, Cook County property records show. The property has been vacant since Foot Locker closed in 2020.
- Two loans in GSMS 2019-GSA1 transferred to special servicing for non-monetary default in late September, Morningstar Credit reported. The loans—Mediterranean Apartments ($37.5 MM | 4.5% of GSMS 2019-GSA1 | CMBX.13) and Sunrise Apartments ($19.8 MM | 2.4% of GSMS 2019-GSA1 | CMBX.13)—share the same sponsors, Kevin Jones & Louise A. Jones. The properties reported 2022 net cash flows below issuance underwriting, but both covered with healthy DSCRs given their interest-only structures. Both are garden-style multifamily properties in Southern California.
- Fitch Ratings has downgraded the ratings on three classes and affirmed 11 classes of Benchmark 2018-B2 Mortgage Trust commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2018-B2 (BMARK 2018-B2). In addition, classes E-RR and F-RR were assigned Negative Rating Outlooks following their downgrades. The Outlooks on classes D and X-D have been revised to Negative from Stable. The largest contributor to loss expectations, Central Park of Lisle, is secured by a 693,606-square-foot suburban office building located in Lisle, IL. The property consists of two connected buildings, which were built in 1991 and 2001, and renovated in 2015. The loan transferred to special servicing in September 2022 due to an imminent maturity default in advance of its January 2023 maturity date.
- Fitch Ratings has downgraded six and affirmed 11 classes of CSAIL 2017-CX10 Commercial Mortgage Trust Pass-through Certificates, series 2017-CX10. In addition, Fitch assigned a Negative Rating Outlook to five classes following their downgrades, and the Outlook was revised to Negative from Stable for four of the affirmed classes. The largest contributor to overall loss expectations is the 379 West Broadway loan, secured by a 69,392-square-foot office property in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. The three tenants at the property are WeWork, Celine and Ralph Lauren. Although the property has remained 100% occupied since issuance, both WeWork and Celine, which combined occupy 93.8% of the property, have leases rolling in 2024. The second largest contributor to overall loss expectations is the specially serviced 600 Vine loan, which is secured by a 578,893-square-foot office property located in Cincinnati. The loan transferred to special servicing in June 2023 for imminent default due to continued year-over-year performance declines.
- Crain’s New York Business reported that Fitch Ratings has downgraded the loan secured by the two-million-square-foot Worldwide Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, which faces an uncertain future as key tenants Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Nomura Holdings plan to exit the property. In characterizing the debt as a “loan of concern,” Fitch noted that the two tenants generate more than 80% of the cash rent at the office property, which New York REIT attempted to sell for $1.7 billion in 2017 but found few takers.
- A Bermuda court has ordered the liquidation of China Oceanwide Holdings Limited, the investor behind Oceanwide Center, an unfinished 2.1-million-square-foot mixed-use project in downtown San Francisco, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The development comes more than a year after an affiliate of New York lender DW Partners first filed a winding-up petition against China Oceanwide in Bermuda court over its failure to pay a $175.4-million loan on 80 South St., a planned residential tower in Lower Manhattan.
- Amid looming loan maturities, a higher interest rate environment, and downward pressure on valuations across asset classes, law firm Seyfarth Shaw has launched a servicing/special servicing group to help guide clients. The new practice will be chaired by Katie Schwarting, who recently joined the international law firm and is based in the firm’s Charlotte office. Seyfarth’s Servicing & Special Servicing team counsels a wide variety of loan servicers, including CMBS, Freddie Mac and CLO securitizations for special servicers, master servicers and sub-servicers. The new practice group will also assist servicers and mezzanine servicers with servicing arrangements for Fannie Mae, life company, warehouse lending and other finance facilities.
- ◦Sale/Acquisition
- ◦Financing
