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Morgan Stanley Abandons 5 San Francisco Office Towers

Tyler Durden's picture




What do the five buildings below have in common:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

If you answered these are the 5 San Francisco office towers which, top tick mogul Morgan Stanley bought at the very peak of the housing market from Blackstone, and just abandoned earlier today, you win 10 shares of Federal Reserve Capital LLC, (the 33 Liberty Strategic Onshore Value Loss Fund). Bloomberg reports that these buildings have lost half their value since 2007. So mark that equity zero MS, and please let your investors  know just how many more billions in CRE writedowns you expect, even as you recommend investors buy various CMBX tranches. Lucky for you, your traders are just as good at convincing witless long-only rally monkeys to buy assorted securitiziation tranches, as your Real Estate investment banker "experts" are good at destroying shareholder value. CMBX 4 chart below:

Look for this chart to eagerly retrace its wides from March of 2009 as more and more firms realize that 6.5% cap rate they keep hoping for just ain't gonna come, no matter how much crap Bernanke buys.




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Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:28 | Link to Comment I need more asshats
I need more asshats's picture

How can I redeem my 10 shares of Federal Reserve Capital LLC?

Through the ZH Swag Store?

http://www.cafepress.com/zerohedge

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:44 | Link to Comment bonddude
bonddude's picture

That'll getcha 1/2 a T shirt !

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:19 | Link to Comment I need more asshats
I need more asshats's picture

I was hoping for a hat.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 17:59 | Link to Comment cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Hey. Half a t-shirt looks really good on most of the gals. Third of a t-shirt starts to rock.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 19:02 | Link to Comment I need more asshats
I need more asshats's picture

HeHe. Hitting below the belt results in penalty points from all judges.

The bottom line, already expressed by an astute ZH'er is: MS has been hedged from the start.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/morgan-stanley-abandons-5-san-francisco...

But Cougar is too busy slinging hash.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:29 | Link to Comment bugs_
bugs_'s picture

"top tick mogul" LOL.

 

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:34 | Link to Comment Zombie Investor
Zombie Investor's picture

As others have noted, it does send a clear message to those holding home mortgages that are underwater.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:52 | Link to Comment AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

Lies have consequences.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 23:32 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 12/18/2009 - 00:28 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:34 | Link to Comment AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

What do the five buildings below have in common?

They are the butterfly wings of moral hazard writ large feeding into the American Scheme of synarchy for all.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:07 | Link to Comment Dburn
Dburn's picture

What an Inspiration for song

Using a old Jerry Garcia Tune Mangled beyond all recognition.
Sing it with me now.

Tricken'
Yeah I'm Trickin' with Moral Hazard
Trickin with Moral Hazard ...Baby

Tricken , Tricken with Moral Harzad
Means never having to eat your losses
When Your Fellow Trickers help u take it out of some poor man's pocket
who can't afford to eat ,
while your feet are getting beat,
running along the sands of a Rio Janeiro beach

I'm a Tricken, Tricken On Moral Hazard. Yeah

Just keep tricken baby.

Good night everyone.

Solid Gold lighters only please, toss em on the stage.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:00 | Link to Comment cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Niiiiiiice

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:35 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:48 | Link to Comment Zro
Zro's picture

Remember, the banks do God's work. Don't contest the morality of God's delegates.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:04 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 17:57 | Link to Comment Careless Whisper
Careless Whisper's picture

do you work in the collection department of citi master card by any chance?

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:04 | Link to Comment cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Any home owner wants to, can walk.

Most don't want to because they are walking away from their family homes, neighorhoods, long-time associations and worse case scenario their kids' schools.

Businesses walk away from liabilities, and walk into quarterly profit statements. Big diff right there.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:54 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 23:36 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:37 | Link to Comment PlantFood
PlantFood's picture

It's not okay for "any" business just the big boys.

According to Karl Denninger the banks are now NOT reporting people for being as much as 90 days late paying their credit card bill - they are reporting them "as agreed".  Could this be to encourage balance transfers to an even greater fool?  I think so.

These people...

What little trust there is will dry up and blow away.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:45 | Link to Comment chet
chet's picture

Jubilee, baby!!!

Let's all mark it zero and go buy new powerboats!

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:48 | Link to Comment JohnKing
JohnKing's picture

I wonder if they are hedged with CDS on their lenders? It could just be a "smartest guys in the room" move.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:50 | Link to Comment Dburn
Dburn's picture

You mean they aren't coming back in value? I'm shocked. Stunned. 

I wonder if the Fed Special Issue commemorative MH MasterCard which has a tag line of
"With a FED Special Issue 0% unsecured MasterCard, you'll never have to say your sorry" would have had anything to do with them effortlessly eating a 1 Billion dollar loss.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:56 | Link to Comment drbill
drbill's picture

Denninger has a good piece today on "moral obligation" only applying when money is owed to a bank...

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 15:56 | Link to Comment primus
primus's picture

Hey, even the man of the year who told us "Sub-prime is contained" admits that a potential wave of defaults in commercial real estate may present a “difficult” challenge for the economy.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:03 | Link to Comment Rainman
Rainman's picture

And a 50 % value hit over 2 years on prime CRE in SFO is a real stocking stuffer.

Look out below !

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:36 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

problem we got is that the Fed has already told the banks, particularly regionals, that they will not be punished for re-writing/extending CRE that are over 100%  LTV.

It is clearly insane from a lending persective.  It is even more insane that it is being done with FDIC insured funds. It is clearly phucked up that we have been doing this now for over one year and we will still keep doing it.

the fact that FDIC funds are being used for this should have every single main stream media editorial board screaming about this. the FDIC is broke, there are approx 500 to 1000 banks in this country at different stages of insolvency (not including the blessed 19) and the Fed said it is okay to make a CRE loan with collateral exceeding 100% LTV ratios.

holy phuck.....

p.s.  though i don't trade SRS and related items, this is what probably accounts for the fact that it can't get moving upward.....

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:01 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 12/18/2009 - 18:19 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:02 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:03 | Link to Comment loki
loki's picture

yet shorting commercial real estate gets you taken to the cleaners... wtf?

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:25 | Link to Comment Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh's picture

Green today, or pennies away from...

SPG

VNO

PSA

BXP

HST

AVB

MAC

DRE

... with the market down 1% and the dollar up a full percent.  This is some of the sickest action I've seen in a long time.

Sell gold and buy CRE equity today.  Wow.  wow.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:43 | Link to Comment msorense
msorense's picture

They are doing everything they can to hold the dog and pony show together until after OPEX and the holidays.  Spend consumer spend!  Be brave and buy your SRS/DRV!  In a couple months they will have doubled.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:49 | Link to Comment Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh's picture

Ok, now virtually every single CRE REIT is green today - as the market sells off more.

What the fucking fuck is fucking going on.  This is not OPEX, these are new highs on a quite a few.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 17:18 | Link to Comment Reductio ad Absurdum
Reductio ad Absurdum's picture

CRE is like the Terminator. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you're short positions are dead.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:38 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

Gilga...see my post above about the Fed's blessing of CRE extend and pretend.

Fri, 12/18/2009 - 01:51 | Link to Comment delacroix
delacroix's picture

 I'm squeaky clean, stupid me investing based on fundamentals. this is the twilight zone, nothing is what it seems, shit by now I'm wondering if I'm really me.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:05 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:12 | Link to Comment the bohemian
the bohemian's picture

sure helps the credibility of investment banks- why would anyone listen to any recommendation coming out of an investment bank when it is proven over and over again it is self serving bullshit

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:23 | Link to Comment Dixie Normous
Dixie Normous's picture

Like today when the Citi analyst upgraded the price target on AMZN to $170? 

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:30 | Link to Comment the bohemian
the bohemian's picture

exactly

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:24 | Link to Comment Dixie Normous
Dixie Normous's picture

Haven't any of you heard of a "do-over?"

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:27 | Link to Comment Green Sharts
Green Sharts's picture

I'd love to see a good calculation when this is all over of how much Morgan Stanley collected in origination and management fees and how much client money it destroyed with its commercial real estate and mortgage units in this bubble.  

A Bloomberg story today says these 5 office buildings were owned by Morgan Stanley's MSREF V fund, which was launched in the fall of 2006 with $1.75 billion in capital.  Morgan Stanley also mortgaged at least some of the properties acquired by the fund and sold them to investors as CMBS.  According to a recent WSJ story, Calpers disclosed last summer that its $137 million investment in MSREF V was worth $300,000 as of this March.  I'd guess it is now worthless.

In addition to owning these office buildings bought at the top of the market, MSREF V also owned 8 resorts according to this WSJ story from a couple of weeks ago, including at least 5 that apparently are about to default on mortgages that come due in 2011 because cash flows do not cover the cost of operations:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704498804574559892654261588.html 

Morgan Stanley's $1.75 billion MSREF V U.S. fund bought eight resorts at the top of the market from CNL Hotels & Resorts Inc. It put $1.52 billion of debt on five of the properties, including a $1 billion first mortgage and a $525 million mezzanine loan. The first mortgage was carved up and sold to investors as commercial mortgage-backed securities, a popular form of financing during the boom.

 But the five resorts have been hammered along with the rest of the luxury-hotel market by the economic downturn, making it difficult for them to pay debt service and possibly even operating costs. The resorts' combined cash flow declined to $84 million in this year's first half from $150 million during the last six months of 2007, according to debt-rating company Realpoint LLC. Their average occupancy fell to 62.5% from 72% in that same span.

MSREF V owned some pretty posh resorts with hotels and some very fine golf courses:  the Grand Wailea in Maui, La Quinta and PGA West in La Quinta, CA, the Arizona Biltmore, the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami and the Claremont Resort in Berkeley, CA.  

 

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:40 | Link to Comment Handle with care
Handle with care's picture

The bloomberg article on this contains a great quote from Morgan Stanley, 

“This isn’t a default or foreclosure situation,” Barnes said. “We are going to give them the properties to get out of the loan obligation.” 

 

I wonder if that would work for consumers who hand back the keys to the bank on their underwater homes when they next apply for credit and have to attest to whether they have ever had a default or foreclosure.  "I have never had a default or foreclosure, I merely gave back the property to get out of the loan"

 

And I hope you can all see now why the banks need to pay millions of dollar in bonuses to retain the kind of talent that bought these buildings in 2007

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:49 | Link to Comment Green Sharts
Green Sharts's picture

Yeah, I loved that quote.  And with regard to your talent comment, there's some idiot who has a column at Seeking Alpha talking about how the Citi stock offering wasn't a mistake because they needed to be able to pay to keep their talent.  Maybe now that the pay shackles are off they can get Bob Rubin to come back.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:39 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

they can get Bob Rubin to come back.

Golf clap.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:22 | Link to Comment aces and eights
aces and eights's picture

A small business owner I know who stopped paying his mortgage over a year ago tried to give his keys to the bank. The bank refused. They still haven't foreclosed on the property, but he recently moved into a nearby rental. The house remains vacant, contributing to the ever-growing shadow inventory out here in Southern California...

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:30 | Link to Comment Ripped Chunk
Ripped Chunk's picture

I'm afraid I have to say: good for him.

More coming soon

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:43 | Link to Comment slickrock
slickrock's picture

Denninger's article on this is here:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1749-The-Last-Word-On-Strate...

His point is that banks are screaming when homeowners walk away from their commitment, yet MS is committing that very same sin.  Shame on them, they will reap what they sow.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 16:56 | Link to Comment loki
loki's picture

that's all the double standard... it's ok for them to "walk away" but they want to chain homeowners to the millstone with iron around their necks.   we are truly fucked...

Fri, 12/18/2009 - 01:55 | Link to Comment delacroix
delacroix's picture

not only do they walk away, but the taxpayer is probably backstopping their losses to some degree

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 17:00 | Link to Comment curbyourrisk
curbyourrisk's picture

Jingle Mail....corporate style!

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 17:40 | Link to Comment Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

The echoes of 250 Montgomery can still be heard.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 18:33 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 19:54 | Link to Comment geopol
geopol's picture
Morgan Stanley Abandons 5 San Francisco Office Towers

 

Who gives a shit about Morgan Stanley,,, gold down 3.55% today on wonderful dollar advance due to Greece going down the sink and speculation the FED will increase rates according to Market Watch... WTF does it all mean Mr. Natural...

 

 

It don't mean shiiiiiit.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 21:17 | Link to Comment delacroix
delacroix's picture

It means, you can buy some at a discount, with artificially pumped FRNs   the risk of not being able to take delivery, is starting to overshadow the risk of a continued suppression. what good is cheaper gold, you can't take delivery of.I would go for silver though. it's actually rarer than gold now.

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 21:40 | Link to Comment geopol
geopol's picture

Well, the mob is working,,let's all run to mama FRN'S....My point is that the FRN'S should be tanking,,,I have lots of cash and foreign equities PE's 5:1 dividends, physical gold/silver so as to cover all the possibilities. I still think dollar doomed and by the way I have had little problem with delivery of PM's. If I give the source I'm cutting my own flexibility, but there are sources... I'm sure you can find them..

 

P.S. I'm buying gold and silver now with both hands....

Your comment on silver is dead on Brother...

 

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 22:42 | Link to Comment ATG
ATG's picture

Not one man in a million understands deflation...

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 23:35 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 12/18/2009 - 00:00 | Link to Comment NumisEX
NumisEX's picture

Two words for deflationists "Bank Holiday"

Fri, 12/18/2009 - 02:03 | Link to Comment delacroix
delacroix's picture

I'm waiting 8- 10 weeks for delivery 80 cents over spot for silver 100 oz bars

Fri, 12/18/2009 - 09:06 | Link to Comment geopol
geopol's picture

Everyone has their own denomination choice, but why 100oz bars??Just curious..

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 21:33 | Link to Comment Printfaster
Printfaster's picture

I know what these buildings have in common:

They were all formerly occupied by going concerns.  Now they are occupied by lawyers.

 

Thu, 12/17/2009 - 22:33 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Fri, 12/18/2009 - 00:11 | Link to Comment Lexington Duffet
Lexington Duffet's picture

Whose buying real estate stocks in this economy?  Vacancy signs are all over the place; rents are falling; major deals are falling aprt all over the place and reits are begging for cash. Makes NFS. Whose buying?  Goldman?  Do they actually have that much leverage?  And if so, why buy CRE or REITS?

Fri, 12/18/2009 - 02:01 | Link to Comment delacroix
delacroix's picture

.

Fri, 12/18/2009 - 02:11 | Link to Comment Anonymous
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