Dallas-Fort Worth commercial property foreclosures surge

Foreclosure postings for several high-profile North Texas properties caused commercial real estate loan default filings to surge this month.

The properties scheduled for forced sale by lenders at next month's foreclosure auctions in Dallas-Fort Worth represent a total of more than $900 million in debt.

About 250 properties, including office buildings, hotels, shopping centers, warehouses and commercial land, are posted for the March sale, according to statistics from Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.

The two largest foreclosure filings were for the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas, with $183 million in debt, and the Mosaic apartment buildings in downtown Dallas, which had $66.5 million in original mortgages.

It was the second month that the Four Seasons has been threatened with foreclosure. Owners of the Irving hotel and the downtown apartment high-rise both say they are still in talks with lenders.

Other large properties scheduled for foreclosure next month include an almost 300,000-square-foot office building at 2370 Performance Drive in Richardson's Telecom Corridor. The building had an original loan amount of $30 million.

The Sheraton Dallas North hotel in Farmers Branch and a shopping center at the Dallas North Tollway and Windhaven Parkway in Plano were also posted for foreclosure by lenders.

March's commercial foreclosure sale will be the largest so far in the current real estate cycle.

"There were some pretty good-size postings for next month," said Foreclosure Listing Service president George Roddy. "I think it's a pivotal year for commercial real estate, and we will see the worst of foreclosures in 2010."

Not all properties posted for foreclosure wind up being sold by the lender. In many cases, the borrower continues to negotiate with the mortgage holder. And sometimes the parties reach agreements to avoid foreclosure.

Dallas Morning News