DTLA Sees Lots of Office Deals

It was a DTLA week — so, let’s take it from the top.

Northwind announced it made a $132 million first-mortgage acquisition note to back 601W’s purchase of Wells Fargo Center’s North Tower, distressed offices downtown owned by Brookfield.

The price tag on 333 South Grand Avenue wasn’t disclosed, but sources previously told The Real Deal it was $180 million when the deal was in talks. The loan funds the Bunker Hill purchase, plus $48 million to future leasing costs, per the release.

A $180 million deal for the 54-story, 1.4-million-square-foot office tower, comes out to about $130 per square foot. (That doesn’t account for the three-story retail spot connected to the tower, which is another 60,000 square feet). Either way, it is nowhere near the debt of around $500 million that was in default on the Wells Fargo Center’s North Tower.

The Wells Fargo Center’s sister South Tower is not included in the deal. Newmark is still shopping that one.

Of the distressed, Brookfield-related DTLA office offerings — which amounted to about 18 percent of the Financial District (Bunker Hill included) late last year — the South Tower and EY Plaza, which has had two deals fall apart, remain. Stay tuned.

Closed

A deal for 865 South Figueroa Street in downtown’s South Park closed, broker JLL announced. TRD previously reported Manulife was in talks to sell the downtown skyscraper to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for $92.5 million — and that’s what happened. The trade for the 35-story, more than 700,000-square-foot office tower came out to about $129 per square foot.

All roads

A special servicer for a lender and commercial mortgage-backed securities holders requested a receiver and initiated a judicial foreclosure on the Fallas family’s Metropolitan building in downtown Los Angeles’ Historic Core.

The parties allege the Fallas family — of the bankrupt retailer and parent company of Fallas Paredes — defaulted on their loan on the Beaux-Arts style building at 449 South Broadway and owes about $32 million. But special servicer LNR and the family are still in talks, which could result in a short sale, a person familiar said. The loan on the seven-story, 160,000-square-foot, mixed-use building comes out to about $200 per square foot — more than it would command in today’s market.

Price revealed … kind of

Late May, we wrote the non-performing note on ex-boxer Oscar De La Hoya’s Downtown Los Angeles office tower sold. De La Hoya owed about $22 million on the 150,000-square-foot, 12-story Financial District tower.

The buyer was Farzad Essapour, but the price he paid for 626 Wilshire Boulevard was unknown. At the time, a source put a price tag at $12 million to $15 million, which would come out to between $80 and $100 per square foot. We have some more information. The loan was resolved for a loss — not a surprise. But now we know, per Trepp, the sale generated $13.3 million in net proceeds, and that left about $12.5 million in lenders’ pockets.

Where the elite meet to eat

Leaving downtown, and on a more fun note, TRD received a photo of Leo Pustilnikov and Frank Mottek at Nate ‘n Al’s deli in Beverly Hills, where they ran into each other. I happened to have a couple meetings this week in Beverly Hills, too, where L.A. players like to lunch.