Broadway Partners announced today it is ceding control over Waltham’s Bay Colony Corporate Center, which will fall into foreclosure, in order to keep control of a group of properties including 116 Huntington Ave. in Boston, as part of an agreement with Lehman Bros., its bankrupt lender.

The agreement was detailed in a court filing, and is subject to the approval of Lehman’s bankruptcy judge.

Broadway, which lost Boston’s John Hancock Tower to foreclosure at the end of March, has been working for months to restructure near-term debt on several of its properties nationwide, including Bay Colony. The agreement with Lehman calls for Broadway to surrender control of the 1-million-square-foot Waltham complex, as well as two other properties in San Francisco and New York, and allow Lehman to sell them off in foreclosure. Broadway will also contribute at least $20 million in additional equity to pay down a maturing mezzanine loan.

In exchange, Lehman will retire Broadway’s maturing debt, and the New York-based firm will retain a majority ownership stake in the remaining seven of the ten commercial properties Broadway bought with Lehman financing.

"This settlement takes care of all of Broadway’s near-term debt obligations in this portfolio for the next three years, insulating us from continuing credit market problems while we concentrate on portfolio strategy and maintaining superior service to our tenants," Broadway founder and CEO Scott Lawlor said in a statement. "We’re very pleased that we were able to reach a solution with Lehman that met our respective objectives."   

Falling rents and mounting vacancies have hit the Bay Colony Corporate Center hard. In addition, the delivery of new developments in recent years – including Boston Properties’ CityPoint and Davis Marcus Partners’ Reservoir Woods – have taken a bit of shine off the property, once considered the submarket’s best in class.