Gramercy may lose 195 properties to lenders

A portfolio of 195 properties is falling out of Gramercy Capital’s grasp after the real estate investment trust failed to pay off $790 million in loans, the company announced today. According to Bloomberg News, lenders SL Green, Goldman Sachs Mortgage, Citicorp North America and KBS Debt Holdings “may immediately seek to exercise available remedies, which will likely include attempting to foreclose on all or substantially all the collateral,” Gramercy said in a statement. The move comes as analysts say lenders are increasingly switching gears from the so-called extend and pretend strategy to taking back control and unloading their distressed assets. The Gramercy portfolio, part of its Gramercy Realty arm, is comprised of a $240.5 million mortgage and $549.7 million in senior and junior mezzanine loans. Gramercy is an offshoot of SL Green, which created it in 2004 to expand its structure financing lending division on a national level. SL Green, which is still Gramercy’s largest shareholder, struck a deal late last year to buy $390.8 million worth of New York City real estate investments from the company, including a 100 percent leasehold on the Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue and stakes in 2 Herald Square and 292 Madison Avenue. That deal is separate from the portfolio now facing foreclosure. [Bloomberg]