Jamison Properties’ $87.5 million loan tied to a 34-story office tower in Koreatown has been sent to special servicing.
The Koreatown-based investor’s loan, tied to 3435 Wilshire Boulevard, is in special servicing for “imminent maturity default,” the Commercial Observer reported, citing a report from Trepp.
The unidentified special servicer reported that Jamison told the lender it wouldn’t be able to pay off the loan at its expected maturity date in June. The building’s loan makes up 15 percent of a CMBS conduit deal named COMM 2014-USB3, according to Trepp.
“Transferring the loan to the special servicer at maturity is a necessary procedural step in order to obtain an extension on the existing CMBS loan,” a spokesperson for Jamison told TRD. “Ownership has always met its payment obligations on this positive cash flowing asset over the entire term of the the loan.”
The 688,300-square-foot Equitable Plaza, also known as The Equitable Trust Building, is the 39th tallest building in Los Angeles. The Modernist tower, built in 1969 of precast limestone, concrete and glass, was renovated in 1993.
The building had an appraised value of $150.5 million at the time of the loan’s 2014 securitization, according to Trepp.
Dr. David Lee, founder of Jamison Properties, is the building’s principal owner, and is listed as its primary contact, according to LoopNet.
Occupancy at Equitable Plaza fell from 67 percent in 2021 to 57 percent last year, while debt service coverage dropped from 1.68 to 1.12, according to Trepp. Any number less than 1.0 indicates the property isn’t making enough revenue to meet its mortgage payments.
Jamison Properties did not respond to requests for comment from the Observer.
Jamison, one of the largest multifamily landlords in Los Angeles, is the most prominent and active developer in Koreatown. For the past decade, the firm led by Lee’s daughter Jaime Lee, has converted much of its portfolio of underperforming offices into apartments.
In December, Jamison Properties’ loan on a 157,400-square-foot office complex in Encino was sent to special servicing after the landlord disclosed it needed time to figure out a way to refinance it, The Real Deal reported.
— Dana Bartholomew
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