Mark Ehlinger, vice president, and Ken Ziebelman, managingdirector and principal, both of Sonnenblick-Goldman, explain toGlobeSt.com that Nomura Securities originated the loan in November1998. Kumagai was the owner then as well. Nomura developed aspin-off company, Capital Company of America, which acted as a realestate lending arm, so to speak, of Nomura. A number of individualsworking for Nomura who created the loan, went to work in Capitaland continued to handle the loan. When it was first created, theloan was for $185 million.

Nomura disbanded Capital, putting its loans into a portfolio forsale. The Americas Tower loan was sold in 1999 to CDC Mortgage, acompletely separate company. Many Nomura employees who'd gone towork for Capital found jobs then with CDC and continued working onthe loan they had originated. Now, CDC has sold the loan, finallyending this relationship.

"This is not our typical transaction. We're 50/50 selling andfinancing properties," Ehlinger says, "but this is a hybrid of thetwo. We have a good relationship with the lenders, Northwestern andNew York Life." While often these loans are securitized, manylenders do intend to hold on to them. It was suggested that thepartnership will hold on to the loan, following their lendingpattern, but Ehlinger did not wish to go on record with aspeculation as to their plans.