CIM Group Grabs Two REO Maryland Assets

GAITHERSBURG, MD-As GlobeSt.com reported yesterday, CIM Group acquired a seven-asset portfolio largely based in California. Included in the portfolio, however, were two Maryland assets. These two local properties are Montvale Center, a 125,000-square-foot office building in Gaithersburg, MD and a non-performing loan secured by 270 Technology Park, a five-building 440,000-square foot office campus in Frederick, MD.

A subsidiary of Boston Properties once owned Montvale Center, losing it to foreclosure after it reportedly defaulted on a $25 million loan from 2007 used to finance the property. The foreclosure auction was held in 2012 by Alex Cooper Auctioneers of Baltimore, the Washington Business Journal reported at the time.

270 Technology Park was tucked into a $350 million purchase of a 3-milion square-foot portfolio of office and warehouse assets by AP AG Portfolio, LLC from Washington Real Estate Investment Trust in 2011.** For its part, WRIT acquired the park in 2007 for $26.5 million.

The CIM Group purchased the portfolio from special servicer CWCapital Asset Management LLC at a undisclosed price. The other assets in the sizeable portfolio included Two California Plaza and Montclair Plaza in Los Angeles and Montclair, CA, respectively, and the Comfort Suites in San Diego and the Hilton Hotel in Bakersfield.

The crown jewels of the portfolio are undoubtedly Two California Plaza and Montclair Plaza. Two California Plaza is a LEED Platinum office and retail building in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles featuring 1.3 million square feet of office space and 44,000 square feet of retail space. It is part of a two-tower center that includes One California Plaza, which was purchased late last year by Madison International Realty for $295 million from Beacon Capital Partners LLC. The second major asset, Montclair Plaza, is a 72-acre, 1.3 million-square-foot mall in Downtown Montclair. CIM purchased 868,000-square-feet of the retail center.

CIM Group declined to comment on the transaction. The sale is part of CWCAM's larger REO and non-performing asset portfolio sale with 67 total assets valued at $2.57 billion. Last week, GlobeSt.com reported that Starwood Capital purchased a pool of 11 office and retail properties from the sale for $191 million.

 **According to WRIT, it did own assets in 270 Technology Park via this 2007 trade but not the properties that were recently acquired CIM Group.