MetLife has sold the West Building Portfolio in the Waterford at Blue Lagoon office complex in Miami, according to Cushman & Wakefield, which represented the company in the transaction. The portfolio includes five buildings on Blue Lagoon Drive. The buyer was DRA Fund VII. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The properties were built between 1982 and 1988, and had been institutionally owned since their completion. “These buildings were well-maintained and upgraded during MetLife’s ownership period, which really makes a difference in the quality of the assets DRA purchased,” said Cushman’s Mark Gilbert. “The assets are in a condition that allows DRA to take advantage of Miami-Dade County’s recovering real estate and employment markets.” Gilbert, Mike Davis and Adam Feinstein were the exclusive brokers for MetLife on the deal. MetLife remains the owner of three other buildings in the park.  — Alexander Britell [more]

Credit Suisse is planning to close down its commercial mortgage-backed securities division after it announced more layoffs several days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Albert Sohn, the Credit Suisse executive who oversees all securitized products, informed the commercial real estate team Wednesday that they would likely lose their jobs. While he said that a final decision would be reached within the next 30 days, he told the team, based in the New York headquarters, that they weren’t to make any new loans, spend firm money, or travel to meet with clients. A Credit Suisse spokesperson declined to comment officially. [more]

New York-based Blackstone Group will borrow up to $1.35 billion to refinance the debt on a portfolio of office buildings largely comprised of California properties, sources told Bloomberg News. Blackstone acquired most of the properties through its purchases of CarrAmerica Realty and Trizec Properties in 2006. MetLife and New York Life Insurance will underwrite senior mortgages worth $850 million, while the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. will provide a mezzanine loan to cover the rest. [more]

Fitch Ratings has handed MetLife, the largest U.S. life insurer, a downgrade to A from A+ on potential losses tied to commercial real estate investments, following in the footsteps of similar actions by Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s last year. MetLife, which holds $50 billion in commercial real estate loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities, is expected to post a loss of between $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion for the five quarters that will end in December 2010, Fitch said. MetLife posted profits in 2008 as the market turned sour by using derivatives, but lost $2.57 billion in losses during the first three quarters of 2009. U.S. life insurers, with more than $450 billion in commercial holdings, have yet to see the worst of the commercial real estate fallout, said Andrew Davidson, Fitch’s senior director. Davidson said losses on those holdings, like apartment buildings, offices and shopping malls, will come into view over the next six months, threatening another $15 billion in losses.

Miami-based MDM Development Group has topped off construction of its 47-story Met 2 Financial Center office tower, saying that the building will be completed by April 2010. The 750,000-square-foot skyscraper is one of two towers in a joint venture project by MDM Development and New York insurer MetLife. The other tower is a 42-story hotel building that houses both a Marriott Marquis and a Hotel Beaux Arts. Tim Weller, MDM Development vice president, said the glass exterior, including impact-resistant windows designed to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds, should be finished by December. Tenants include law firm Greenberg Traurig, Deloitte and Business Centers International. [more]

The principal on interest-only mortgages — which let the borrower put off principal payments for years — is coming due now. That means the monthly payments for interest-only mortgage borrowers could jump 20 percent or more, which could mean a wave of defaults in this economy. Steven Kandarian, MetLife’s chief investment officer, told Bloomberg he thinks the worst is yet to come and that the defaults will occur over the next two or three years. [more]