The Loan Committee™

The FDIC released details of its enforcement action activity through October 2013. For the week, there were nine removals that lower the Unofficial Problem Bank List to 645 with assets of $221.2 billion. At the end of November last year, the list held 856 institutions with assets of $326.4 billion…read entire article.  Author.  Bill McBride.  Source.  Calculated Risk Finance & Economics.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, CMBS loan modifications and extensions were relatively straightforward. Early CMBS loans were originally underwritten based on in place cash flow and reasonable LTV’s and DSCR’s, loans typically transferred into special servicing either due to a maturity default or payment default. The reasons for the defaults were, again, fairly straightforward, loss of an anchor tenant in a shopping center or mall, loss of one or more big tenants in an office building, franchise issues with a hotel, or high vacancy in a multi-family property that was competing against relatively inexpensive housing.  read entire article…  Author:  Andrew Hundertmark.  Source:  CWCapital Asset Management.

Empty strip malls still plague U.S. shopping centers, as the commercial sector continues to struggle with oversupply from last decade’s housing boom, according to a report from Reis Inc., a real estate research firm.  read entire article…  Source:  Realtor® Mag.

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is booked solid next week as bankers prepare to crowd the iconic lobby for cocktails at an annual bond-market convention. For owner Jeffrey Soffer, the conference helps justify a $1 billion makeover that almost cost him the property three years ago. read more here…  Author:  Sarah Mulholland.  Source:  Bloomberg.

Valentino, Fendi, Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana, Harry Winston, Givenchy, Giorgio Armani and Van Cleef & Arpels.  All those ultra-luxury fashion and jewelry brands — and many more — will soon open their gilded doors in Miami’s redeveloped Design District, joining other high-end designers like Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Berluti, Emilio Pucci, Prada, Celine and Cartier, which have already set up shops.  Read entire article…  Author:  Ina Paiva Cordle.  Source:  The Miami Herald-Business Monday.

When the 2,200 seat Carib Theater opened on Lincoln Road in 1950, it was a state-of-the-art facility featuring a moving ceiling.  Now, new owners are planning to convert the building into a multi-level retail center.  read entire article…  Source:  exMiami.

photo credit: Phillip Pessar via photopin cc

Douglas Manditch expects regulatory costs to increase for Empire National Bank, the $455 million-asset bank in Islandia, N.Y., that he is chairman and chief executive of. History suggests he is right. In 2011, Empire allocated 13 percent of its revenue to compliance and governance. A year later, it was 16 percent.  read entire article…  Source:  TriNovus.

Merrill Lynch & Co., the 99-year-old firm known for its “thundering herd” of brokers pitching stocks to Main Street, may cease to exist as a legal entity more than four years after being acquired by Bank of America Corp.  While Bank of America will keep the Merrill Lynch brand for its retail brokerage and investment bank, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company plans to dissolve the subsidiary as early as the fourth quarter, according to an Aug. 2 filing. The firm will assume Merrill Lynch’s obligations and debt. read entire article….  Author:  Hugh Son.  Source.  Bloomberg