A mortgage partnership involving billionaire investor Warren Buffet that recently seized title to Hartford’s Metro Center I office building has hired a well-known property manager to oversee its downtown property.
Berkadia Commercial Mortgage – a partnership between Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Leucadia National Corp. — hired Harbor Group Management Co. as managing agent for the 12-story building at 350 Church St.
Harbor Group’s parent, institutional investor Harbor Group International, is the former owner of the State House Square office complex in downtown Hartford.
Berkadia, based in Horsham, Pa., foreclosed on Metro Center earlier this month after the building’s former owner, Northland Investment Corp., failed to meet a Jan. 4 deadline to pay the more than $23 million owed on the mortgage, court papers show.
Harbor said Berkadia took over Metro Center’s mortgage in 2010. According to Berkadia’s website, it acquired the North American loan origination and servicing businesses of bankrupt Capmark Financial Group Inc. in December 2009.
Metro Center, built around 1986, has 293,000 square feet of Class A offices and a 1,250-space garage. Flagship tenants, including Lincoln National Life Insurance and the Connecticut Business & Industry Association occupy 80 percent of the building.
Harbor Group manages some 10 million square feet of office space and 20,000 residential units.
Berkshire Hathaway, based in Omaha, Neb., is a diversified holding company whose affiliate operations include banking, real estate, insurance, retailing and manufacturing.
Leucadia, based in New York City, too, is a holding company with varied business interests in, among others, lending, oil and gas, real estate, telecommunications and gaming entertainment.
