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Have CMBS lenders learned from their mistakes that led to today’s high default rates, or will they lapse into making irresponsible loans again as the commercial real estate recovery gains momentum? Brian Furlong, managing director of New York Life Investments, who oversees the company’s CMBS investments and structured whole loan activities, raised the question Tuesday during a panel discussion at MBA’s commercial/multifamily real estate finance conference in Atlanta. The delinquency rate for CMBS multifamily loans in January stood at an unhealthy 15.39 percent, according to Trepp LLC. In sharp contrast, the delinquency rates were well under 1 percent for multifamily loans originated by life companies and loans held or insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “The question becomes what led to that difference among industries, and has it been addressed and has it been fixed?” asked Furlong. There is no doubt that CMBS lenders are making more responsible loans today than they were at the peak of the real estate market in 2005-2007, said Furlong. He believes that’s largely because lenders are proceeding with caution during the early stages of this real estate recovery. “But fundamentally some problems of the business — in terms of it being a throughput …

ATLANTA — A steep recession is typically followed by a steep recovery. So what happened this time? Tom Cunningham, vice president and associate director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, suggests that financial regulation reform, a lack of consumer confidence, rising oil prices and the European debt crisis have all played a role. “It has been a very disappointing recovery by the standards of recoveries,” said Cunningham. “If you were relying on [traditional] econometric models to predict the path of the recovery, you were really wrong.” His comments came Wednesday during the closing session of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual commercial/multifamily finance conference in Atlanta. The uncertainty over financial regulation reform can’t be overstated, said Cunningham. “Problems emerge [after a financial crisis], and it seems like a good time to address the root causes of those problems. But changing the rules of the game in a period when everyone is uncertain in the first place isn’t really conducive to immediate economic growth,” Cunningham said, referring to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. When times are good, there is no incentive to do reforms, and when times are bad, it’s not a good time to …

ATLANTA — David Brickman, senior vice president of Freddie Mac Multifamily, has some advice for business leaders. “If anyone comes along and gives you the option to put your company into conservatorship, don’t do it,” Brickman jokes. Brickman and Jeffrey Hayward, senior vice president of Fannie Mae’s National Servicing Organization, spoke Tuesday about their optimism and frustrations of working for Fannie and Freddie. Their comments came during a panel discussion focusing on agency lending at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual commercial/multifamily finance conference. Fannie and Freddie’s assets and operations have been under the control of the Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) since 2008. The FHFA has put constraints on the agencies and is in control of the agencies’ operations for the foreseeable future. “There’s a significant layer of control put on us, and we simply can’t control our own destiny,” said Brickman. “It’s hard to provide great strategic direction when you can’t control (your future).” Despite the distractions, the agencies’ multifamily divisions posted exceptional years in 2011 from a production standpoint. Fannie Mae recorded approximately $24 billion of multifamily mortgage volume in 2011, a 46 percent jump from 2010, while Freddie Mac’s production tallied about $20.3 billion, a 32 percent …

ATLANTA — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that 10 percent of commercial and multifamily mortgages held by non-bank lenders and investors will mature in 2012, according to its annual Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Survey of Loan Maturity Volumes. The value of the maturities is estimated at $150.6 billion, according to MBA. The survey’s findings come in the midst of the four-day MBA CREF 2012 Conference, being held at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. The MBA survey covers $1.46 trillion of mortgages held by life companies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), CMBS trusts and other non-bank entities. The findings follow the downward trend of non-bank real estate commercial loan maturities since 2010. The $150.6 billion in maturities is down 3 percent from 2011 and 18 percent from 2010. “The volume of commercial and multifamily mortgages coming due has declined over the last 2 years, from $184 billion in 2010, to $155 billion in 2011, to $150.6 billion this year,” says Jamie Woodwell, MBA vice president of commercial real estate research, in a prepared statement. “That survey, and each one since, has shown that the volume of commercial and multifamily mortgages maturing each year represents only a small …

It’s premature to pop the champagne cork, say real estate economists, despite a healthy report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the U.S. economy added 243,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in January. A number of factors could still hamper the pace of employment growth, they believe. “While it is dangerous to extrapolate from a single month’s worth of data, the report suggests that the U.S. economy is building momentum despite headwinds to growth, which include a mild recession in the euro zone, a slowdown across much of the globe, rising home foreclosures and public sector layoffs,” said Bob Bach, chief economist for Santa Ana, Calif.-based Grubb & Ellis. The outlook for the economy and the real estate lending climate figures to be a hot topic at MBA’s Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention and Expo taking place in downtown Atlanta early this week. More than 2,200 industry professionals have registered for the event, which runs through Wednesday at the Marriott Marquis. The private sector generated 257,000 jobs in January, while the public sector slashed 14,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts had expected nonfarm payroll employment to rise between 125,000 and 150,000, or about half the …

CHICAGO — Miami-based developer Crescent Heights has purchased Echelon at K Station — a 350-unit, Class A luxury apartment building in Chicago’s West Loop — for $104.5 million. The seller was Chicago-based Fifield Cos. and its joint-venture partner, Pacific Life Insurance Co. of Newport Beach, Calif. The building is part of a 2,100-unit, five-tower master-planned development called K Station, which Fifield Cos. broke ground on 8 years ago. Located just north of the Fulton River District and west of the Chicago River, K Station is one of downtown Chicago’s largest residential developments. Located at 353 N. Desplaines St., Echelon at K Station is 95 percent leased. The high-rise includes studio, one- and two-bedroom residences with one to two baths. Floor plans range in size from 572 to 1,111 square feet with rents ranging from $1,565 to $2,845 per month. “At a price of almost $300,000 per apartment, this is an outstanding deal for Crescent Heights on a high-performing building in one of Chicago’s hottest neighborhoods,” said Steven Fifield, president and founder of Fifield Cos., in a prepared statement. “With demand continuing to outpace supply in Chicago’s rental market, Echelon is a solid multi-housing investment that should provide an excellent return …

While more than $5 billion of loans within commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) became delinquent in January, the increase was largely offset by more than $3 billion in loans cured during the same period. The volume of resolved loans helped push the delinquency rate for CMBS loans down six basis points in January to 9.52 percent, according to a new report from New York-based analytics firm Trepp. A loan is considered delinquent if it is 30 days or more past due. “The CMBS market performance will be dictated by two trends going forward,” said Manus Clancy, senior managing director at Trepp, in a statement. “The pace of loan liquidations will compete against the growth of delinquent loans that emerge from the Class of 2007. If the rate of loan liquidations slows, the rate will climb. If the special servicers keep plowing ahead at the pace they did in January, the rate could manage to stay flat.” The first wave of loans originated in 2007 that reached their balloon dates in January performed poorly, with only 27 percent of these loans managing to pay off. While this should have pushed the delinquency rate much higher, this upward pressure was offset by the …

NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between Jamestown Properties, Rockwood Capital, Crown Acquisitions and Murray Hill Properties has purchased the 500,000-square-foot Bank of New York Building, located at 530 Fifth Ave. in New York City, for $390 million. The Moinian Group and The Chetrit Group were the sellers of the office and retail property. The Bank of New York Building, completed in 1959, is positioned in the heart of the Grand Central district and occupies an entire block of Fifth Avenue between 44th and 45th streets. “We believe 530 Fifth Avenue’s dynamic location and physical attributes provide a strong foundation on which ownership can improve and re-establish the building as a top-tier asset,” said Arne Arnesen, senior managing director of Rockwood, in a prepared statement. “This building epitomizes our strategy of investing in well-located real estate that provides opportunity to outperform over the long term.” Crown Acquisition and Murray Hill Properties will undertake a $20 million renovation of the building, which will include a full Class-A lobby renovation with a new security system, a new building entrance on Fifth Avenue, mechanical and electrical upgrades throughout the building, new elevators and a reconfiguration of the mezzanine-level floors to accommodate additional retail …

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Paramount Group, Inc., a New York City-based real estate investment and management firm, has acquired 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue, a 206,573-square-foot office building in the heart of Washington, D.C. The building is located four blocks away from the U.S. Treasury and Federal executive office buildings and within walking distance from the White House. The company acquired the 12-story trophy asset from Vico Capital, an Irish real estate partnership focused on acquiring core office properties. Prior to the sale, 2099 Pennsylvania was Vico’s lone American asset. The terms of Vico’s disposition of 2099 Pennsylvania were not disclosed, but what is known is that the real estate investment firm purchased the property for approximately $172.5 million in 2008, according to its website. Back then, the purchase price of $867 per square foot eclipsed the previous record of $827 per square foot for Washington, D.C., office properties, according to Vico. Although Vico isn’t based in the U.S., Paramount expressed there was minimal difference between the seller and similar domestic firms Paramount has negotiated with in the past. “The seller was a sophisticated real estate investor with knowledge of the U.S. market and represented by a New York law firm,” Paramount Group …

DALLAS — 7-Eleven has entered into an agreement to acquire 55 Sam’s Mart stores in North and South Carolina, with plans to convert them into 7-Eleven stores this year. The transaction is expected to close in February. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. “Sam’s Mart has a successful store operation and quality locations that fit our strategy to expand where we have existing stores or in areas near markets where we have operations,” said Stan Reynolds, executive vice president and CFO of 7-Eleven, in a prepared statement. The Dallas-based company operates, franchises or licenses more than 9,000 stores in the United States. Last year, 7-Eleven opened 650 stores nationwide and in Canada. Additionally, last week the company completed a transaction with ExxonMobil to purchase retail interests in 51 North Texas locations, most of which will be re-branded as 7-Eleven stores. Included in the 51 properties are two unused parcels of land. “This acquisition fits well with our aggressive growth strategy,” said Robbie Radant, vice president of mergers and acquisitions. “We met our goal of opening 650 stores in 2011, and with this acquisition 2012 is off to a great start.” As part of the rebranding, the company will “provide the …