Auction now to take place February 23
By Dolores Quintana
Next Century Partners and Woodbridge Capital Partners’ stake in the Century Plaza redevelopment, which is a $2.5 billion deal, has been postponed until February from its original date of December 14th as reported by The LA Business Journal.
As reported by The Real Deal.com, Motcomb Estates, David and Simon Reuben’s investment company, now have an agreement with DigitalBridge, a mezzanine lending company, that used to be Colony Capital and the other EB-5 lenders to move the foreclosure auction from December 14 to February 23. This was necessary after Micheal Rosenfield, a developer whose company is Woodridge Capital Partners, defaulted on $1.8 billion in loans. The property is owned by Next Century. The Reubens are holding $1.2 billion of the debt on the redevelopment and they are the ones who initiated the foreclosure against Rosenfield and his properties in September 2022 after DigitalBridge alleged that the Reuben Brothers didn’t initiate the foreclosure promptly to protect their investment. DigitalBridge sued the Reubens and Motcomb Estates to try and recover the losses resulting from the mezzanine loan of $550 million. The Reubens were also sued by the EB-5 lenders who made allegations that the brothers had waged “a wrongful and tortious campaign to destroy (the EB-5 lenders’) undisputed property interest and any real prospect of repayment.”
The redevelopment had been in the works since 2008 and was delayed by the pandemic. Construction on the structures was completed in late 2022. Rosenfield’s original plan to demolish the Century Hotel was resisted by the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles Conservancy and his plan changed to building two residential towers behind the hotel.
J.P. Morgan loaned the project a $446 million senior loan, Colony Capital put in $120 million, as mezzanine loans, and EB-5 lenders lent the project $450 million in exchange for citizenship in the United States. Even with these loans, Rosenfield was not able to finish the project with the delays and cost skyrocketing and had to borrow even more money after construction began in 2018.
