Brinderson Defaults on $65-Million Tower Loan : Financing: The Irvine-based company says the action is ‘paperwork’ leading to the restructuring of financial agreement on office building.

An Atlanta real estate company has notified the Brinderson Corp.--its Irvine-based partner in the Brinderson Towers office project near John Wayne Airport--that it is in default on more than $65 million in loans and interest payments.

Equitable Real Estate Investment Management, a unit of New York-based Equitable Life Assurance Society, contends that Brinderson is nearly a year behind in payment on a $61-million loan, plus interest and attorneys’ fees. Equitable Real Estate put up the money to build the second tower, which was completed last year, said company Vice President Jonathan D. Miller.

Brinderson and Equitable Real Estate are 50-50 partners in the twin-tower project in Irvine, Miller said. The company’s action involves only the second tower.

The first tower--a 15-story, 264,000-square-foot black granite high-rise--was completed in 1987. The two structures--built at a cost of $176 million--are among Orange County’s most elegant office buildings, with special touches such as escalators in the lobbies.

While the original tower is 97%-occupied, the newer tower has leased only about 30% of its office space. The second tower’s anchor tenant is the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, which signed a 10-year, $17-million lease for more than 20% of the building, said Steven Fink, a Los Angeles public relations executive representing Brinderson Corp.

The two parties have been negotiating for about a year to restructure their agreement, but Miller declined to discuss details of the deal.

“We’re only prepared to say that our partners have been unable to meet their commitment, and we have tried to work out a transaction,” Miller said. “We will continue our talks with Brinderson.”

He said Equitable filed the default notice “to keep all options open and remedies alive.”

Fink called the notice of default “merely a piece of paperwork that is part of the restructuring.”

Brinderson Corp. “fully expects to work this out” and to avoid any foreclosure procedure by Equitable, Fink said.

The partnership is talking with the French bank, Banque Paribas--which financed the first tower--about assuming Equitable’s loan on the second building, Fink said.

Brinderson Corp., founded 26 years ago by Gary L. Brinderson, is a privately held heavy construction firm that works mainly on government contracts. It has built dams and co-generation energy plants throughout the country.

Alan S. Zall, a Tustin real estate lawyer, said the $65-million default is “one of the largest defaults I’ve heard of in Orange County.”