St. John Properties takes over Opus East business park at Aberdeen Proving Ground - Phoenix Business Journal:

fugycyquwod.blogspot.com
U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Propertieds into the fold, fearful the project wouldf come to a halt if Opus East fileds for bankruptcy protection before an arrangement couldbe struck, companuy spokesman Gerard J. Wit said in a telephone intervieaw Tuesday. “It was a real round-the-clock, week-lonvg effort to get this done,” Wit “We’re going to get in and try to kick-start this right away.” Aberdeen is gearing up for a significant influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’s Base Realignmenr and Closure plan, expected to be completed by September 2011.
About 8,200 military jobs will be transferred tothe base, in additionn to as many as 18,000 privatw contracting jobs from companies that do businesxs with the incoming military agencies. The approves Opus East's selection of St. John Propertie to take over the Government and Technology Enterprisew business park because of theBaltimorew developer’s ability to move forwardr with new construction, Bob Penn, program directord with the Army Corps, said in a statement. As in takinv over the project, including (NYSE: OFC) and Manekin LLC.
Opus East was awardedc rights to developthe government-owned land under a leas with the Army in November 2007 and brokre ground on its first building in December of that Since then, the company became straddled with milliona of dollars in construction loanws it has been unabl e to refinance, and the company has not starte d any new construction at the project for more than a The deal was inked June 19 between Opus St. John Properties, with the backing of the St. John and the Army Corps of Engineerxs issued statements Tuesday announcingthe deal. Wit said St. John will pay Opus East an undiscloseds amount of money for its development rightxat Aberdeen. In connection with the deal, St.
John has hirec Opus East project manager Matthew Holbrooo to oversee the GATE project as its director of defense andgovernment business. “Aberdeenh Proving Ground is excited about movinv the project forwardwith St. John Properties,” Tim APG deputy garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have their experiencexd management team spearheadingthe build-out of this As the to help it consider optionxs including bankruptcy. Its paren t company, , has also sought bankruptcy protectionjfor it’s Opus South subsidiar y and for two more subsidiaries of its Opus West regiona operation. Opus Corp.
spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is still evaluating its options but has not made any decisionxabout bankruptcy. The company was forceds to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeeh project because it has been unable to financ morethan $50 million in construction loanw it took out to finance its projects. Most pressinvg among those debtsis $35 million the developer spent to build a new headquarters for the Nationalp Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in College Park, for whicn it has sued the federal government to collectf its wages on that project, Hewetrt said. St.
John plans to breakm ground in the next two monthxs on at least three new buildings at the Harford Countymilitary base, with commitmentes from defense contractors for up to 300,000 square feet of office, research and developmeny space, Wit said. Wit did not disclose the namesa of any of those Those buildings would be in addition toa 60,000-square-foott building Opus East complete in December 2008 for defense contractore CACI. “We view this developmeny as the most significant commercial real estatde opportunity in the history ofour company,” St. John President Edward A. St. John said in a statement.
“This is basedc on the amount of square footage that can eventuallt be developed as well as the important work that will be completed by end-users that occupy this St. John Properties is the third-largest property management firm inGreatert Baltimore, with nearly 11 million square feet of commerciakl space in the But taking over the Aberdeen projecft represents a shift for the which has sought to tap into the demand for governmen t contracting space up untio now. Wit said the company has also soughyt in the past to buy land for itsown developments, rathef than to lease propertyu from the government such as at Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarilty received commitments from firms seeking spacw atits 413-acre Government and Technologty Enterprise business park but did not start any additionapl construction. The developer was unwilling to dividw any of its buildingsinto multi-tenanted space, Wit preferring instead to construct buildings for a singl e tenant. That’s created a pent-up demand for companieds seekingfrom 5,000 square feet to upward of 20,000 squared feet, Wit said. “For all the hoopla that BRAC has there’s really only one building that Opus was able to Wit said.
“If you don’r have the place to park thosw people, if you don’tg have the buildings to put them in, there was going to be a real logistical