There may well be corruption in some of these processes, but these foreclosure options are generally a public courts process and occur only after vast sums of m

There may well be corruption in some of these processes, but these foreclosure options are generally a public courts process and occur only after vast sums of money have been lost by owner and lender. Due to construction costs, interest rates, and skyrocketing vacancy (a triple peak), the math does not work by a long shot to restore these buildings, even with new office tenants. Lease terms too short to recapture improvement costs. The deal just would have a rely on massive increases in rents and occupancy that likely never returns. Converting to a new use is far more expensive and similarly doesn’t work. High rises are very complex systems. These lender-run foreclosure auctions would LOVE to see another buyer come along to take the asset off their hands. The lender-buyback is just a risk backstop, they still have to figure out what to do with the asset after the buyback, meanwhile the building is deteriorating and costing (in any cases) millions to operate annually. My group knows how to do these conversion very well, we don’t see a path forward, even being willing to dive in on some major risk assumptions, the converted value end game is too weak to justify the risk.