$154M mortgage for Minneapolis' IDS Center in limbo

The deadline to pay off a large mortgage balance has come and gone for the owner of the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis without resolution.

The deadline to pay was Monday.

The loan balance is listed at $154.4 million by Cred Iq, a Pennsylvania-based firm that tracks commercial real estate data, analytics and valuations.

IDS Center owner Accesso Partners said that it is continuing talks to resolve the issue.

"We are working with a lender to refinance the asset and are negotiating a forbearance agreement with the special servicer to allow us time to close the new loan," the firm said in a statement.

Forbearance temporarily postpones loan payments. JPMorgan Chase & Co. provided the original $182.5 million loan.

Cred Iq's report indicates that the IDS loan was transferred in late February to a special servicer — a third party that works with property owners on troubled loans.

Florida-based Accesso a decade ago paid $253.5 million to acquire the tower.

The overall office market is challenging now for property owners. Remote and hybrid work are pushing vacancy rates up. At the same time, interest rates have risen and building values have fallen.

"It's very hard for offices to get refinanced now. This market is kind of fluid," said Manus Clancy, senior managing director with Trepp, a New York-based firm that tracks commercial real estate loan data.

Clancy said that in the current environment it's not uncommon for payment deadlines to pass as banks and owners continue to negotiate.

"Sometimes the loan just goes to purgatory," Clancy said.

IDS — the tallest building in Minnesota — includes 1.4 million square feet of office and retail space. According to Accesso the building's office space is 19.2% vacant and its retail space is 38.7% vacant.

Nordstrom Rack closed its IDS Center store in November.

Last week, Accesso announced it had signed 57,000 square feet of leases for office and retail space. That included lease renewals as well as new tenants.