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December 15, 2009
For FCE, are commercial mortgage loan defaults vexing--or just playing chicken?
Atlantic Yards Report
From last week's conference call with investors:
Forest City officials were asked why they had delayed a $5 million payment on a loan for land in the Atlantic Yards footprint: “I’m wondering what your negotiations are with the lender. Are you trying to get a lower interest rate? Are you trying to get them reduce the size of the mortgage? And how does that impact the potential close of the project?”
Executives declined to give a straight answer, only offering, “The lender group on our land loan has been very supportive and has been working with us in connection with making sure that this project occurs as planned.”
Norman Oder wonders if "working with lenders" is a euphemism for "tough negotiation," and Crain's Cleveland Business reported:
One of the nation's realty titans, Forest City Enterprises Inc. in Cleveland, talks about negotiations with lenders over debts in such a way that it sounds like a game of who blinks first.
NoLandGrab: It's the lenders who are likely to blink first, since all the properties in the Atlantic Yards footprint, including those Forest City already owns, are slated for condemnation by New York State. If the State's initial offer to Daniel Goldstein is any indication, the banks would hardly want to deal with "fair market value" for the property to which they would take title.
Posted by lumi at December 15, 2009 4:48 AM