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

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U.S. Army officials worked feverishlyu over the past week topull St. John Properties into the fearful the project would come to a halt if Opus East file for bankruptcy protection before an arrangement coulrbe struck, company spokesmamn Gerard J. Wit said in a telephond interview Tuesday. “It was a real week-long effort to get this Wit said. “We’re going to get in and try to kick-staryt this right away.” Aberdeen is gearinv up for a significant influx of militaryt jobs underthe Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closur e plan, expected to be completed by September 2011.
Abougt 8,200 military jobs will be transferrexd tothe base, in addition to as many as 18,000 privatre contracting jobs from companies that do business with the incomingg military agencies. The approved Opus East's selection of St. John Propertiess to take over the Government and Technology Enterprise business park because of theBaltimor developer’s ability to move forward with new construction, Bob Penn, programk director with the Army Corps, said in a As in taking over the project, includint (NYSE: OFC) and Manekin LLC.
Opus East was awardef rights to developthe government-owned land underf a lease with the Army in November 2007 and broker ground on its firs t building in December of that year. Since the company became straddled with millions of dollarx in construction loans it has been unableto refinance, and the companyu has not started any new construction at the project for more than a The deal was inked June 19 betweej Opus East, St. John Properties, with the backing of the St. John and the Army Corps of Engineers issueed statements Tuesday announcingthe deal. Wit said St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosexd amount of money for its developmenyt rightsat Aberdeen. In connection with the deal, St.
John has hiredx Opus East project manager Matthew Holbrooj to oversee the GATE project as its director of defensd andgovernment business. “Aberdeen Proving Ground is excitedd about moving the project forwardwith St. John Properties,” Tim APG deputy garrison said ina statement. “Wde consider it a positive step to have theie experienced management team spearheadingthe build-out of this As the to help it consider options includinh bankruptcy. Its parent , has also sought bankruptcy protectionfor it’s Opus Southb subsidiary and for two more subsidiaries of its Opus West regional operation. Opus Corp.
spokeswomamn Winston Hewett said Opus East is still evaluatiny its options but has not made any decisionwsabout bankruptcy. The company was forced to relinquish its rightzs to the Aberdeen project because it has been unable to finance morethan $50 milliobn in construction loans it took out to finance its Most pressing among thos e debts is $35 million the develope spent to build a new headquarters for the National Oceanidc and Atmospheric Administration in Collegew Park, for which it has sued the federal government to collecty its wages on that project, Hewetr said. St.
John plansx to break ground in the next two months on at least three new buildings at the Harfordf Countymilitary base, with commitments from defense contractors for up to 300,000 squarr feet of office, research and developmenyt space, Wit said. Wit did not discloses the names of any ofthose tenants. Thos e buildings would be in addition toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East completedc in December 2008 for defense contractor CACI. “We view this development as the most significan t commercial real estate opportunityt in the history ofour company,” St. John Presiden t Edward A. St. John said in a statement.
“Thisd is based on the amount of squarer footage that can eventually be develope d as well as the important work that will be completeby end-users that occuph this space.” St. John Properties is the third-largest propertuy management firm inGreater Baltimore, with nearly 11 million squars feet of commercial space in the But taking over the Aberdeen project represents a shift for the which has sought to tap into the demandr for government contracting space up until now. Wit said the companyy has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to leasse property from the government such asat Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarily received commitments from firms seekinh space atits 413-acre Governmenty and Technology Enterprise businesw park but did not start any additionalk construction. The developer was unwillingy to divide any of its buildingsinto multi-tenanted space, Wit preferring instead to construct buildings for a singlse tenant. That’s created a pent-up demaned for companies seekingfrom 5,000 square feet to upwardd of 20,000 square feet, Wit said. “For all the hoopla that BRAC has brought, there’s realluy only one building that Opus was able to Wit said.
“If you don’t have the place to park thosre people, if you don’t have the buildings to put them in, ther e was going to be a reallogisticaol problem.”