Brutkey

Dave Spector
@Dhmspector@mastodon.social

@bgannin@mastodon.social @tonyarnold@mastodon.social true. SF is ground zero right now. Dozens of known brands are literally walking away from SF and some away from billions in real estate loans: the Hilton at SF’s Union Square and the Park55, Westfield, and several very large commercial real estate companies, just to name a few.

Alex Rosenberg
@alexr@mastodon.online

@Dhmspector@mastodon.social @bgannin@mastodon.social @tonyarnold@mastodon.social Why did those hotels and that mall have such massive loans leveraged against them? They're all well-established and should have been paid off ages ago. Smells fishy, like how Bain Capital forced solvent Kay Bee Toys and Toys R Us to have tons of debt and sucked them dry until they were bankrupt husks.

Dave Spector
@Dhmspector@mastodon.social

@alexr@mastodon.online all
It takes just a big renovation plan to cause a large loan on properties like those. If they’re not making money (and SF is like a ghost town in most of downtown esp w/conferences down to almost nothing), it’s cheaper to walk away. Esp if the loans don’t have a repayment provision meaning the banks get the property w/no penalty to to borrower.