Fannie and Freddie Blacklist 19 San Francisco Properties

Nearly two dozen San Francisco condominiums are now on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s mortgage blacklist.

Mira, the 39-story twisting residential tower at 280 Spear Street, is among the 19 condo properties across the city that have been given the scarlet letter by the dual federal agencies, the San Francisco Standard reported. As a result, finding a conventional mortgage at the property will be much more difficult than at other properties, if not impossible, according to the Standard.

In total, there are 19 San Francisco condo properties on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s blacklist, according to Boston law firm Allcock Marcus, which did not disclose the sites’ individual addresses, per the Standard. Of those 19, four were flagged for pending litigation, and 10 were dinged for critical repairs or deferred maintenance. The rest were called out for a range of reasons from ownership or resale restrictions to commercial space violations.

While so-called “pending litigation” might imply that the Mira — owned by Tishman Speyer — is being sued, that’s not exactly what’s happening, according to sales disclosure documents reviewed by the Standard.

As it stands, the property has no major structural defects that would make it uninhabitable or dangerous to live in, but repairs are needed on the rooftop window-washing unit, which is a permanent crane that lowers workers down the side of the building. A third-party inspection last year found that it was “not functional” and leaking fluid. The inspection also noted that planters and exposed electrical systems also needed fixing.

In addition, some residents called out the building’s water filtration system for releasing “black particles” into the water supply, and have complained about a smell that could be tied to mold or legionella bacteria, the Standard reported.

Despite these issues not amounting to a lawsuit, the government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac flagged the building for unresolved litigation. Tishman Speyer is working with the homeowners association to resolve any problems in the hope of getting off the list.

“We are in active discussions with Mira’s homeowners association and are confident we can achieve a resolution to the issues,” a spokesperson for Tishman Speyer told the Standard. “In the meantime, we have found members of the lending community to be constructive and flexible in providing lending products to potential buyers of the few remaining units at Mira.”

Inspections and investigations at the Mira building are ongoing and the building will maintain the Fannie and Freddie blacklist presence until at least the end of the year. Tishman Speyer and the HOA have two mediation sessions scheduled in October and December.

— Chris Malone Méndez