Real estate investment managers and the placement agents they use to raise investment equity expect the debt crisis in Europe to make foreign investors a bigger source of capital for commercial property deals in the United States.

Looking to take advantage of strong investor demand for office buildings in San Francisco, a venture of Sterling American Property and Hines has placed a 420,310-square-foot office building in that city up for sale through Eastdil Secured. And the expectation is that the property, formerly 120 Montgomery St., could sell for up to $190 million, or $450/sf.

Facing an August maturity, the $69.5 million securitized mortgage against the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago has been moved to special servicing. The loan, securitized through JPMorgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, 2007-LDP12, has continued to make its monthly payments, even though its net cash flow is less than its $4.4 million annual servicing requirement.

JBG Cos. has agreed to buy 1025 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, a 315,628-square-foot office building in Washington, D.C., for $80 million, or about $253/sf. The building, known as Jefferson Court, is being purchased from NSP Ventures Corp. of Japan.

Commercial property prices held flat in March and increased 1.76 percent for the full first quarter as a pricing recovery that began in early 2010 started slowing, according to the Moody's/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices. The March results represent the first CPPI to be published since late last year, when a revamping of the indices was started.

LNR Partners, special servicer for a $206.5 million securitized loan against two Westin-branded resort properties, in Tucson, Ariz., and Hilton Head Island, S.C., has filed an appeal of a Bankruptcy Court-ordered modification of the loan. The modification extended the loan's term by 15 years and reduced its interest rate to zero.

MetLife has agreed to provide a $153.5 million mortgage against 4 New York Plaza, a 1.1 million-square-foot office building in lower Manhattan that was purchased by a venture of HSBC Alternative Investments Ltd. and Edge Fund Advisors. The buzz is the venture paid $274 million for the building.

A total of $1 billion of CMBS loans were liquidated last month, according to Morningstar, helping drive down the volume of loans that are more than 30-days late to $58.37 billion from $59.18 billion in March. The average loss severity for loans that suffered losses was 54.5 percent.

A portfolio of 14 apartment properties with 3,709 units that serve as collateral for a delinquent $195.1 million CMBS loan has been put up for sale through CBRE. The portfolio, which was owned by the now-defunct Babcock & Brown of Australia, has been managed by receiver McKinley Co. since last August.