TA Partners defaulted on $200M in construction loans. Who are they? 

When TA Partners defaulted on $200 million in loans tied to two apartment projects in Irvine earlier this month, it was not the first time the firm fell behind on its payments. 

A few months prior, the firm allegedly stopped paying rent for its offices in Irvine, owing about $28,700 in back rent, according to a court complaint.

TA Partners, founded by Johnny Lu, says it has a lot more on its books. 

The firm boasts a portfolio valued at nearly $2 billion — it has more than 2,700 units under development across Los Angeles and Orange counties, according to its website.

Lu founded a predecessor to TA Partners in 2002, while he was a master’s student at the USC School of Architecture. After a short stint as an architect at Arcadia-based TAG Design Works, he started two companies — one for real estate development and another for architecture. 

By 2010, he was spending much of his time in Asia sourcing capital.

“I am currently spending two-thirds of my time in Asia to assist my Asian clients,” Lu wrote in a Urban Land Institute blog post in 2011. “My dual Chinese and English language skills have offered me a competitive edge compared to other American firms, especially during the 2008 financial crisis.” 

He then found a partner for the firm in 2014: Yaojun “Larry” Liu. 

Before joining TA Partners, Liu was a lawyer in Beijing, working at Global Law Office from 2006 to 2014, according to SEC filings for a transportation-focused special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that seems to be unaffiliated with TA Partners.

Jeffrey Klein, a developer who claims he is responsible for bringing the NFL Chargers to Los Angeles from San Diego, according to his LinkedIn profile, is also listed on TA Partners’ website as a venture partner. 

TA Partners did not respond to a request for comment.

While the firm has scored entitlements for a number of its projects, TA Partners has finished building very little. 

At 6055 Center Drive in Playa Vista, TA Partners once planned to build a 452-unit luxury apartment complex across almost 400,000 square feet. It purchased the land from Equity Residential in 2014 for an undisclosed sum. 

But in 2019, TA Partners asked the City of Los Angeles to refund applications for building permits. 

“We have elected to change the project,” Raymond Thimens, TA Partners’ construction director, said in an email, city records show. 

Nothing has been built on the site yet. 

In Irvine, TA is delinquent on payments totaling $11 million under two separate loans as of Oct. 1, according to two notices of default filed with Orange County. The loans are tied to two complexes at 18831 Von Karman Avenue and 17422 Derian Avenue. 

Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies provided two senior loans totaling $197 million in 2022, records show, to help TA finish construction without contributing more equity. 

“They have no idea what they are doing,” said one industry insider familiar with TA Partners, adding the two Irvine projects are a “total disaster.”