From left: 478 Third Avenue in Manhattan (source: PropertyShark) and 10 Metrotech Center in Brooklyn

The volume of delinquent commercial mortgage-backed securities in the U.S. rose to a staggering $61.4 billion last month, pegging the delinquency rate at a record-high 9.34 percent, according to a new report from real estate analytics firm Trepp. “While the rate continues to head higher, optimists can point to the fact that the rate of increase is significantly smaller than it was in the prior two months,” said Manus Clancy, managing director at Trepp. “Pessimists can counter that the jump comes despite the fact that new issues continue to make their way into the calculation and servicers continue to resolve troubled loans.”
After all but disappearing in the aftermath of the real estate crash, the CMBS market has already begun to rebound, with, by Trepp’s count, $12.7 billion in issues in 2010. Moody’s Investors Service recently projected that figure would rise to $37 billion this year. The Real Deal chronicled the reincarnation of the nation’s CMBS market in the January print magazine.

But in New York City, those fresh CMBS issues don’t appear to have made a dent in the delinquency rate yet…. [more]

From left: The Gallery at Cocowalk on Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove; Palm Beach Gardens Marriott on RCA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens; the Shore Club on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach

From the South Florida Web site: It’s not just the South Florida residential market feeling the pain.

Some of the region’s most high-profile developments, from office buildings to hotels to shopping malls, are 60 or 90 days past due on their mortgages, putting them in the same sinking boat as scores of underwater South Florida homeowners.

As of March 31, the Shore Club on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach was three months behind on its $111 million mortgage. Also 90 days late were: The Gallery at Cocowalk on Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove, which owes $79 million; Palm Beach Gardens Marriott on RCA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, $50 million; Shoppes of Wellington Green at 10500 Forest Hill Boulevard in Wellington, $31 million; Southpark Centre on South Dixie Highway in Pinecrest, $18 million (see chart of the top 10 delinquent CMBS deals here).

A spokesperson for the Morgans Hotel Group, which manages the Shore Club, called the delinquency an issue between the owner and loan servicer that doesn’t impact the hotel’s operation. The Shore Club is owned by the New York-based Philips International, which also owns the Bryant Park Hotel, and could not be reached for comment.

From left, Charles Kushner, chairman of Kushner Companies, company principal and son Jared Kushner and 666 Fifth Avenue

The $1.215 billion securitized loan secured by the Kushner Companies
iconic Midtown office building at 666 Fifth Avenue was transferred to
special servicing yesterday as part of an effort to restructure the
loan, a company spokesperson told The Real Deal in a statement. Kushner
bought the building, located between 52nd and 53rd streets, for $1.8
billion from Tishman Speyer Properties in January 2007, at the time the
highest price ever paid for an office building. “The transfer of
the 666 Fifth Avenue loan was done at the request of Kushner Companies,
so that it could more easily engage in productive discussions with the
lender. The loan is not currently in default,” the statement said. Peter
Slatin, editorial director of commercial data tracking firm Real
Capital Analytics said the move was part of a trend in owners seeking
to reduce their debt. “They are clearly hoping to take advantage
of the increasing willingness of lenders to restructure to avoid what
could be a challenging situation since they not only bought at the top
of the market, they defined the top of the market,” Slatin said…. [more]