German investors set to take control of troubled project in Dallas.
Once touted as a landmark case study in urban regeneration, the financially troubled Victory Park mixed-use project in Dallas is in the final stages of reverting back to its German-based institutional backers.
Hillwood, a Fort Worth-based development firm run by Ross Perot Jr., is negotiating to cede control of the developed portions of the project to US Treuhand, an organizer of German closed-end funds based in Hamburg.
Located just north of downtown, in 2008 Victory Park celebrated the 10th anniversary of its formal approval by the City of Dallas. Over the next 10 years, the project was set to include 12 million sq. ft. of office, retail and residential space on a 75-acre brownfield site.
To date, only $1 billion of the projected $3 billion project has been completed. That includes the 20,000-seat American Airlines Center sports arena, a 33-story W Hotel, four residential buildings and three office properties. Future office, retail and residential phases are on hold.
“Hillwood Victory is in negotiation with its equity partner, UST XVI LP, regarding the future of the existing vertical development at Victory Park,” Hillwood said in a statement. “We are working together to bring a fresh infusion of capital to the District to enable Victory Park to move forward with new restaurant and retail development.”
Market watchers point to bad timing. In its rush to create a landmark destination within the North Texas Metroplex, Hillwood's luxury retail tenants have suffered from the recession. Its high-end condos have also not achieved expected sales volume. Victory Park isn't alone.
“I believe you would be hard pressed to find a major development project anywhere in the country that is not under tremendous pressure due to the changes in the debt markets,” says Dan Fasulo, managing director of New York-based research firm Real Capital Analytics.
That's a change from recent years, when US Treuhand invested heavily in the U.S. Founded in 1995, its many funds have invested $3 billion in U.S. commercial property. Lately, German property funds have pulled back their U.S. investments. In 2008, $2.1 billion of German capital was invested in U.S. properties, down from $6 billion in 2007.
In fact, HSH Real Estate, a division of Germany's HSH Nordbank, holds a 50% interest in US Treuhand. But HSH Nordbank faces severe challenges of its own. The bank received some $4 billion in German stimulus money in March 2009, but some German financial experts estimate that it may need substantially more capital to stay afloat. It also recorded a 10% delinquency rate on its commercial loan portfolio of more than $5.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to research firm Foresight Analytics.
When Hillwood could not keep up with its mortgage payments, it began negotiations with US Treuhand earlier this year. Under terms of the current proposal, Hillwood would lose an ownership stake in the buildings valued at around $100 million.
To date, Hillwood has invested $68 million in Victory Park, while US Treuhand has provided $185 million for the project since 2006. Any deal would be independent of the land holdings and Hillwood would keep control of future development sites in the project and continue to manage Victory Park.
US Treuhand CEO Lothar Estein has put the workout terms before a vote of the fund's more than 1,000 shareholders. A decision is expected in June. If accepted, Hillwood will have three years to turn around Victory Park's fortunes.