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IPFS News Link • California

One of the biggest landlords in Los Angeles just defaulted on $755 million in loans...

• https://fortune.comBYJOHN GITTELSOHN AND BLOOMBERG

Brookfield Corp., parent of the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, is defaulting on loans tied to two buildings rather than refinancing the debt as demand for space weakens in the center of the second-largest US city.

The two properties in default, part of a portfolio called Brookfield DTLA Fund Office Trust Investor, are the Gas Company Tower, with $465 million in loans, and the 777 Tower, with about $290 million in debt, according to a filing. The fund manager had warned in November that it may face foreclosure on properties. 

The company had the option to extend the maturity on the loans tied to the Gas Company Tower, but elected not to, according to its latest filing. It also elected not to get interest-rate protection that was required for loans for the 777 Tower property, which amounts to an event of default, the filing said. 

"We believe DTLA's decision to default on these two assets increases the risk for the remaining loans in their portfolio," Barclays Plc research analysts Lea Overby and Anuj Jain wrote in a note Tuesday.

Brookfield declined to comment. 

The values of comparable office buildings have broadly dropped, according to the Barclays analysts. Office vacancies have increased across the country since the pandemic made working remotely more routine. The vacancy rate in the Los Angeles central business district vacancy rate was 22.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. report.


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