Bank of America Plaza to be auctioned today

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Staff reports

Bank of America Plaza, the tallest building in metro Atlanta, is going on the auction block Tuesday.

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The 55-story Bank of America Plaza in Midtown Atlanta, the tallest tower in the Southeast, has lost 54 percent of its value since the property market peaked in 2007.

Louie Favorite Staff file 1992 The 55-story Bank of America Plaza in Midtown Atlanta, the tallest tower in the Southeast, has lost 54 percent of its value since the property market peaked in 2007.

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The 55-story, 1,023-foot building will be sold on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse after landlord BentleyForbes missed mortgage payments.

The California-based commercial real estate investment firm bought the tower at the height of the real estate boom for an Atlanta-record $436 million. It has been working to avoid default.

The main $363 million loan on the tower went to a special servicer LNR Partners in February, while a second loan had been in default for nonpayment.

The foreclosure of Bank of America Plaza comes as delinquency rates for commercial mortgage backed securities, or CMBS, a type of loan for commercial properties, reached an all-time high in metro Atlanta in December, according to Trepp, a real estate research firm.

With a $12.8 billion CMBS balance outstanding, $2.73 billion, or 21.3 percent was 30-plus days delinquent or worse -- compared with 13.2 percent in December 2010, Trepp said.

If a buyer could snap up the tower at a major discount, they could offer space at below market rent -- a major competitive advantage, said Ronald Glass, a principal at GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group.

"There is a lot of capital on the sidelines ... looking for opportunities," Glass said.