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A KKR & Co. trust is considering foreclosing on a Mountain View, California, office property co-owned by Goldman Sachs and TMG Partners in the latest sign of trouble for the office market in Silicon Valley and the country at large.
KKR Real Estate Finance Trust loaned $200M to Goldman and TMG to purchase the property at 350-380 Ellis St. in 2021, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news Wednesday. The loan’s floating rate has increased to 8.5% from 3.5% at the time of its origination.
KKR said during a Q2 presentation that it elevated the debt on the Mountain View property to the highest category of risk, Bloomberg reported.
“At this time, we are considering next steps for the asset, which may include taking ownership as we work with the sponsor on a transition plan,” Patrick Mattson, president of the KKR trust, said during a Tuesday investor call, according to Bloomberg.
Goldman and TMG purchased the 446K SF property from NortonLifeLock for $358M. Leading up to the 2021 sale, the Mountain View area was one of the hottest office markets in the country, with landlords and tenants alike clamoring for space among tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook.
But today, following a drop in property values and a simultaneous spike in interest rates, major office owners are struggling to keep pace with their loans.
Goldman CEO David Solomon last month said the bank would take impairment charges on commercial assets on its books in Q2, including loans and a direct stake in some properties. Other major property investors defaulted on loans or allowed properties to go back to their lenders, including giants like Brookfield Asset Management, Starwood Capital and Blackstone.
Silicon Valley remains in better shape than downtown San Francisco in terms of the office leasing market, according to Q2 research reports from various major brokerage houses. Still, the valley’s 19.4% office vacancy rate is well above its pre-pandemic level of roughly 8%, according to JLL’s latest research.
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