Lenders have asked a judge to appoint a receiver to take over The Atrium in Encino from landlord Jamison Properties, The Real Deal has learned.
Trustee U.S. Bank National Association and special servicer Rialto Capital initiated the proceedings in L.A. Superior Court on Dec. 6, nearly a year after Jamison defaulted on its $21.5 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan tied to the property at 16530 Ventura Boulevard. The debt was sent to special servicing last December just before it came due, as TRD previously reported.
A spokesperson for Jamison said in an email that a loan modification isn’t entirely off the table yet.
“This filing is an expected part of the process as we continue to work through the negotiations,” the spokesperson wrote. “The current economic conditions have resulted in a longer negotiating period, but we are continuing to have conversations with the servicer to reach a resolution as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Bank — the trustee overseeing the COMM 2014-CCRE14 Mortgage Trust loan pool — declined to comment.
Jamison purchased the 163,170-square-foot office complex on the southern edge of the San Fernando Valley in 2002 for $20.8 million, county property records show.
Encino is a bit off the beaten path for Jamison’s founder, David Lee, whose office portfolio is concentrated in Koreatown. The building was 22 years old at the time of the acquisition, but it had just been renovated.
Jamison refinanced the property the following decade, scoring a $21.5 million loan with a 10-year term in 2014 from German American Capital, according to court records.
The property was 85 percent occupied at the time, the loan’s underwriters reported. But by 2022, that had fallen to just 42 percent, tipping the property into negative cash flow that year, according to Morningstar Credit data.
A handful of medical and legal tenants remain, including Sinai Medical Lab, law firm Keosian Law and insurer Metropolitan Adjustment Bureau.
Jamison became delinquent on its debt last December and the loan hit special servicing the following month with a remaining balance of $17.4 million, according to Morningstar Credit.
Commentary from Rialto over the past six months shows Jamison has hoped for a work-out with its lenders. In June, the landlord proposed clearing its debt with a discounted payoff, but Rialto apparently declined.
Now the special servicer and trustee are proposing a different path.
The court-ordered receivership could pave the way for the property to go up for sale, but the lenders stopped short of spelling out any specific plans, requesting only that the court appoint a receiver to “take possession of the property and to manage and operate” it.
What’s clear is that Jamison is not putting up a fight, according to the court filings.
The lenders note that Jamison “consented to the appointment of a receiver both in the loan documents and subsequent to the default.”
A third-party receiver could now begin operating the building and collecting rent, pending a judge’s approval.