(Nov 19): The value of a downtown Los Angeles tower owned by an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd was slashed 69%, the latest sign of troubles for offices in US central business districts.

The Bank of America Plaza, a 55-floor tower that hosts the home office of asset manager Capital Group, was appraised at US$188.9 million (RM844.1 million), down from US$605 million 10 years ago, according to a filing last week for the property’s mortgage.

US office values have plunged and vacancies soared since the double shock of the post-pandemic vacancy increases and soaring borrowing costs. Office values in US central business districts fell almost 53% from March 2022 through September, according to MSCI Inc.

The office availability rate in downtown LA, which is among the hardest hit areas, was about 38% in the third quarter, according to CBRE Group Inc. The delinquency rate on US office CMBS jumped to 9.3% in October, up from 5.7% a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The BofA Plaza, built in 1974 and renovated in 2009, has US$400 million in commercial mortgage-backed security debt that matured on Sept 1 without being paid off or refinanced. It was 79% leased as of July.

“We remain in discussions about a path forward for the loan and building,” Andrew Brent, a Brookfield spokesman, said in an email.

The loan has been managed since July by special servicer CWCapital, which declined to comment.

The BofA Plaza is one of seven properties in the Brookfield DTLA portfolio, all but one of which have defaulted on a total US$2.2 billion in debt. The portfolio included the Gas Company Tower, once valued at more than US$630 million, which the County of Los Angeles has agreed to purchase for an amount not to exceed US$200 million.

While the US office market struggles, other types of commercial real estate have shown signs of green shoots. A broad measure of property prices has climbed 3% so far this year through October, according to Green Street data.

“With interest rates coming down, liquidity continues to return to the capital markets,” Brookfield Corp president Nick Goodman said during a Nov 14 earnings call. “In the past few months, we’ve executed over US$30 billion of financings across the business. Notable highlights include in our real estate business, the CMBS markets remain very active.”

Uploaded by Siow Chen Ming