$53M Soho office building loan delinquent

After the mortgage payment on the $53 million loan on the 12-story office building 625 Broadway in Soho was late, the securitized note was transferred to a special servicer, according to data from commercial mortgage research firm Trepp.  

The loan on the 84,000-square-foot office building was transferred to a special servicer March 18, Trepp information says.  

The building is owned by members of the Moskowitz family, who are principals of the Flatiron District-based property management company Argo Corporation, and held in The Name 625 Broadway Owners, according to city records and published reports.

Neither the owner nor the management company responded to requests for comment.

The value of the building shot up in recent years. Beck Street Capital bought the 1896 building in February 2006 for $36.55 million, then flipped it to the Moskowitz family in May 2007 for $60.9 million, city records show.

Kevin Comer, senior managing director at Beck Street Capital, said when he sold the building, lease expirations would leave most floors vacant within two years.

“At the time that was a good thing, but the world turned and that benefit became a detriment,” Comer said.

The Entity 625 Broadway Owners took out the $53 million loan from JPMorgan Chase when it bought the building, and that loan was securitized into a loan package, also in 2007. At that time, the special servicer was identified as Boston-based CWCapital Asset Management.

The building, between Bleecker and Houston streets, had a vacancy rate of 36 percent in December, and its net income only covered 41 percent of the mortgage payments, Trepp data shows.