Deutsche Files $75M Loop Foreclosure Against Accesso

Accesso Partners is close to losing another piece of its Chicago office portfolio.

Florida-based Accesso failed to pay off a $75 million debt package issued for 200 West Monroe Street when it matured in June, a foreclosure lawsuit filed late last week by Deutsche Bank on behalf of bondholders in the CMBS loan alleges.

Prior to the maturity date, the loan tied to the 50-year-old building was in special servicing with KeyBank due to delinquent payments dating back to late 2023.

But it appears the firm is trying to hold onto the asset. A representative of Accesso called the legal filing a “protective action” and said the firm is continuing to have “good faith discussions with special servicer and lender.”

Representatives of KeyBank and Deutsche Bank declined to comment and representatives of Accesso Partners did not respond to requests for comment.

Accesso bought the 650,000-square foot, 23-story building in 2014 for $100 million with $75 million in financing. After the pandemic jarred the office market, Accesso fell behind on debt payments. By 2023, the building’s occupancy had dropped to 60 percent from 84 percent in 2014.

The foreclosure action comes on the heels of additional legal and financial troubles facing Accesso’s Chicago-area investments, amid massive foreclosure lawsuits that lenders have filed against other office owners, such as New York-based AmTrust RE’s Illinois Center building, 601W’s Civic Opera House, Beacon Capital’s AMA Plaza and more. Many office landlords haven’t been able to overcome the low demand from tenants and higher interest rates in order to pay off their loans on time. In most cases, the delinquent debts were borrowed at lower rates during a previous economic cycle.

Next door to 200 West Monroe, Accesso sold 230 West Monroe at a massive discount from its purchase price. Oregon-based investor Menashe Properties last year paid nearly $45 million for the 623,000-square-foot building, a staggeringly low amount given that the property last traded for $122 million in 2014, when Accesso bought it.

Accesso has also defaulted on an $18 million debt for the 211,000-square-foot Park Plaza office building in Naperville, and looks set to lose a two-building Highland Oaks office complex in Downers Grove to its lender, as well, loan data from Morningstar Credit shows. The 320,000-square-foot Highland Oaks complex, which is in Downers Grove, is carrying a $33 million loan that became delinquent in 2023. Foreclosure lawsuits are proceeding for those two buildings, as well.

Meanwhile, a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 24 in a lawsuit between Newmark and Accesso that could lend more insight into the commercial landlords’ finances. Newmark sued Accesso this spring, alleging that after the real estate advisory firm successfully secured about $6 million in reductions on Accesso’s property taxes for various Cook County properties, Accesso failed to pay $876,000 in fees owed to Newmark for the company’s property tax services.