The Liening Towers Of Infinity (300 Spear Street)

Move along, move along, nothing to see here, I’m sure. However, a little more detail on what the dispute (if that is the reason for non-payment) may be would be useful. Perhaps these are related to the work done in the parking garages and Tishman wasn’t so thrilled when the lower levels began leaking? The high surf levels as of late may not help matters. Possibly the lost revenue from the total failure of their Stuyvesant project, combined with lower revenues from Infinity sales and carrying costs (plus subsizing HOA fees) is having a legitimate impact on cash flows? I know these guys have deep pockets and huge portfolios of commercial real estate, but I remember a time people saying similar things about the enormous diversified holdings of an entity named Citibank.
BTW – nice touch with the “liening” towers.

When you’re broke, you’re broke. Locally, TS just sold Gap bldg that they had in some Australian investment vehicle for way less than paid. And what about 555 Mission? It’s 50% occupied, at best. This has to be negative cash flow. In NY the markets getting ready for the big un-wind:
http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/fitch-downgrades-cmbs-deals-backed-by-stuy-town-for-tishman-speyer
[Editor’s Note: A 21% “Gap” In Values From 2005 To 2009 For 550 Terry Francois and 555 Mission: Sequoia’s Penthouse Sublease At 40 Percent Off.]

I moved in last Feb. As a building, it’s great. The amenities are top notch (and I use them all the time, so the HOAs are worth it, to me), construction is good, etc.
Of course I wished I paid less for it, but c’est la vie.
I will say, though, that there are a lot of pinheads living there (not very friendly, not taking care of common spaces, driving like a**holes in the garage, etc). Probably not unique to the Infinity (I lived at the Met for a while and ran into the same thing).

The Tishman Office Park in SoCal is also facing foreclosure, with a note of $154M.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=acugcWqHdeAI
in the end the problem is that it is hard to assess who has “deep pockets” and who doesn’t, since so many of these firms use credit lines and other debt vehicles as cash management tools.
They also often will will off various deals as separate entities.
So very hard to know who really has “deep pockets” and also how it will affect other holdings if those deep pockets are filled with sand.
Tishman is clearly in some trouble. however, much of what they do is just business decisions… Owe the bank $1M, that’s your problem. Owe them $3 billion, that’s THEIR problem.
But even if Tishman were to fail (I have no prognosis on this) it may not affect Infinity, depending on how all the deals are set up.

Willow you know I have always been a fan of The Infinity. Still am, love the property, building, unit and area. As I have always stated and I get some won’t understand it… plan to be here for the long term so even though my value is down not too worried. The only issues I know of are people letting dogs use the landscaping so it has to be replaced often – bummer, wish the lobby folks would open the door more vs. just sitting at the desk, wish all buildings werre 24hr security, and wish the common area and gym carpet were different.. nothing major to get worked up about.

“In the overvall scheme of SOMA / Rincon Hill condo developments, I think Infinity will most likely hold up better than most due to the superior location.”
If you bought Tower II units at the 20-30% discount prices you should be fine. If you bought in Tower I, and thought that Tishman would ‘protect’ you (as some that posted on SS did) you are a bit buggered.

I don’t agree on the rather being a T1 vs. T2 owner. After spending hours at the city reviewing tax records I can confirm that the developer did not just mark down T2, rather they marked down certain units and only certain units in both buildings. I truly believe it has to do with unit type, how the buyer negotiated, and where sales % were the day one walked in to sign for various reasons such as the banks won’t close until a certain # are in contract etc. etc. It is a numbers game, it is not like they just marked down the entire T2 building by 20-30%. Yes there have been markdowns but in many cases not at all, or not by much. In some instances I saw many who paid much more than standard comps around peak. For someone planning to stay long term this works great; higher comps are helping prop sales and the lower comps are helping qual for property tax reductions. I believe those who bough atypical units with some special feature will end up doing pretty well when they sell down the road. Good building, great area, will only get better. I remember buying years a go in mission bay much before safeway was even there and everyone thought I was crazy… there was nothing there and it was not the “real SF”; even in today’s market the special properties can sell for much over what one put down up through 05′. As long as your willing to wait it out, buying in an area that is great but not developed can only help down the road, may take time but once developed your selling potential out weighs what others can sell for in areas all ready built up.

Higher cost units help prop sales for the overall building and area by increasing the median sales prices (past and future).
In the interim if a comp unit sells for less, it gives you a comp to show based on today’s stats you paid too much so you ask for a property tax reduction.