New York-based JPMorgan Chase is rumored to be looking to unload $143 million worth of loans it’s owed by Centro Properties Group, according to Bloomberg News. JPMorgan is expected to sell the debt at auction today. Centro, a Melbourne-based shopping mall owner, handed the reins over to creditors in 2008, as debts mounted and loans became more difficult to refinance. The company had $18.6 billion worth of debt as of June 20. [Bloomberg]

From left: a rendering of the Revel casino in Atlantic City, Chris Christie and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman

Morgan Stanley is launching a new $1.15 billion debt offering to help complete construction on the stalled Atlantic City Revel hotel and casino, after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie personally lobbied executives at the bank not to give up on the project. According to the Post, Christie felt that the state desperately needed the jobs that will come from finishing the 53-story Revel. Morgan Stanley tried unsuccessfully last month to raise $1.3 billion from hedge funds to launch the Revel in mid-2012, but has agreed to try again. [more]

HSBC is restarting foreclosures in New York State after a nearly two-month reprieve, according to the Post. The bank, along with peers like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, had halted foreclosure proceedings Oct. 20, after the so-called “robo-signing” scandal surfaced, revealing widespread errors in foreclosure documentation. HSBC is the first major bank — it owns around one-tenth of New York mortgages — to restart proceedings since then (BofA has announced that it will resume foreclosures for vacant non-owner-occupied properties next month). [more]

More than 126,000 square feet of prime Financial District retail space has gone up for grabs at Downtown by Philippe Starck, the high-rise condominium conversion of the former JPMorgan headquarters at 15 Broad Street/23 Wall Street, and the marketing team is angling for a department store to fill the spot. (Though its New York City future may be somewhat dependent on how the court battle over 3 Columbus Circle plays out, Nordstrom is said to be looking). The firm has also kicked off its marketing efforts for 14,789 square feet at 35 Wall Street across the way. TRD [more]

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are planning to increase their investments in the lodging sector after realizing that financing hotel projects in the present market isn’t as risky as financing other types of commercial real estate, Bloomberg News reported. Data from Trepp shows that lenders lost around 53 percent of their investments on non-performing hotel loans during the first nine months of this year, compared with 57 percent for office loans, 61 percent for multi-family loans, 62 percent for industrial loans and 63 percent for retail property loans. [more]

JPMorgan Chase is facing two class-action suits alleging foreclosure fraud after the bank temporarily halted foreclosures nationwide in September, the Wall Street Journal reported. JPMorgan also became the latest big Wall Street bank to disclose a list of lawsuits it is facing that allege that the bank underwrote mortgages used in securitizations which harmed investors. The lawsuits allege “common law fraud and misrepresentation, as well as violations of state consumer fraud statutes.” JPMorgan said it encountered the same lawsuits that other banks — including Citigroup and Bank of America — have said they face. JPMorgan also said it was facing suits from nine Federal Home Loan Banks, Cambridge Place Investment Management and Charles Schwab. [WSJ]

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase secretly helped hedge fund Magnetar Capital bet against the same subprime mortgages the bank was simultaneously selling to investors, ProPublica reported. The probe surrounds a $1.1 billion collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, called Squared, which was tied to subprime mortgage assets that Magnetar is suspected of having hand-picked with the bank’s help. JPMorgan, which ultimately lost $880 million on the deal (though Magnetar gained $290 million), is one of several peer firms under investigation for their practices related to mortgage investments around the time the housing market began to sour. Goldman Sachs agreed to a $550 million settlement with the SEC in July over claims that the company helped John Paulson bet against a bundle of mortgage bonds it was also selling to customers. [ProPublica]

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JPMorgan Chase is offering up $484.6 million in bonds backed by a loan to Australian shopping mall owner Centro Properties Group, according to Bloomberg news, and more than one-fifth of that loan is secured by New York and New Jersey retail properties. The remainder of the pool is accounted for by shopping centers in Australia and Texas, and together the properties constitute the sixth sale of commercial mortgage-backed securities this year. Earlier this month, Vornado Realty Trust completed a $660 million CMBS issue. After a record $234 billion in CMBS was issued in 2007, sales dropped to $11.2 billion in 2008 and Wall Street is still struggling to recover. JPMorgan is said to be readying a $1 billion deal — comprised of 38 loans to different property owners — for September, which would make it the largest of the year thus far. [Bloomberg]

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JPMorgan Chase is offering up $484.6 million in bonds backed by a loan to Australian shopping mall owner Centro Properties Group, according to Bloomberg news, and more than one-fifth of that loan is secured by New York and New Jersey retail properties. The remainder of the pool is accounted for by shopping centers in Australia and Texas, and together the properties constitute the sixth sale of commercial mortgage-backed securities this year. Earlier this month, Vornado Realty Trust completed a $660 million CMBS issue. After a record $234 billion in CMBS was issued in 2007, sales dropped to $11.2 billion in 2008 and Wall Street is still struggling to recover. JPMorgan is said to be readying a $1 billion deal — comprised of 38 loans to different property owners — for September, which would make it the largest of the year thus far. [Bloomberg]

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JPMorgan faces appeal from West 11th Street building that Richard Bassik’s Downtown Properties manages, as criminal case continues against Bassik and his company

377 West 11th Street

JPMorgan Chase is facing an appeal from Riverbank South Owners Corp., after a state Supreme Court judge dismissed charges against the lender in an ongoing civil case against Richard Bassik, the property manager that w [more]