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PHILADELPHIA-Offices at Two Liberty Place LLC, an affiliate of Miami-based Americas Capital Partners and Parkland, FL-based Falcon Funding LLC, obtained $157 million in financing for Two Liberty Place. An affiliate of Americas Capital agreed to acquire the 57-story, 1.2-million-sf trophy office tower at 1601 Chestnut St. from San Francisco-based Shorenstein Co. this summer.

Although the price remains undisclosed, published reports and brokers who spoke on condition of anonymity put it at between $145 million and $150 million. The lender is the Bethesda, MD-office of Fremont Investment & Loan, and Michael Cochran of Secured Capital in New York City is the mortgage broker.

In late August, again on condition of anonymity, two Center City condo developers told GlobeSt.com the new owner had discussed with city officials the potential of converting the top 25 floors to residential condominiums. That was neither confirmed nor denied by Americas Capital or a local source involved in exploring such conversion. For additional articles on Two Liberty Place click here.

According to a statement from Fremont, the purpose of the financing is to "provide funding for the acquisition of the asset, tenant improvement and other leasing costs, as well as predevelopment funding for the repositioning of the property." Asked to elaborate on the repositioning, Lockard tells GlobeSt.com "it does not specifically refer to residential conversion." References in the statement to the lender's ability to "react to a fluid business plan over the course of the loan," he says, "are just part of our approach as a lender." He declined to disclose the terms of the loan, but says, "we are a short-term lender."

In the same statement, Allen de Olazarra, CEO of Americas Capital, says the seller "required a quick close." Calls to Americas Capital and de Olazarra in Miami were not returned by deadline. On condition of anonymity, a person reportedly involved in evaluating condo conversion of Two Liberty, tells GlobeSt.com, "there will be no comment for at least the next two weeks."

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Two Liberty Place's New Owner Obtains $157M Loan for Acquisition, Repositioning

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