St. John Properties takes over Opus East business park at Aberdeen Proving Ground - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Propertiesd into the fold, fearful the projec would come to a halt if Opus East filedd for bankruptcy protection before an arrangement couldebe struck, company spokesman Gerare J. Wit said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “It was a real round-the-clock, week-longv effort to get this done,” Wit said. “We’rw going to get in and try to kick-starf this right away.” Aberdeen is gearing up for a significan influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’ws Base Realignment and Closur e plan, expected to be completed by September 2011.
Abouty 8,200 military jobs will be transferred to the in addition to as manyas 18,000 privats contracting jobs from companies that do businessd with the incoming military agencies. The approved Opus East'sz selection of St. John Propertiexs to take over the Government and Technologhy Enterprise business park because of theBaltimorre developer’s ability to move forwardr with new construction, Bob Penn, program director with the Army said in a statement. As in taking over the including (NYSE: OFC) and Manekimn LLC.
Opus East was awarded rights to developthe government-owneed land under a lease with the Army in Novemberf 2007 and broke ground on its first buildinbg in December of that year. Sincse then, the company became straddlesd with millions of dollars in constructionn loans it has been unable to and the company has not startef any new construction at the project for more than a The deal was inked June 19 betweenOpus East, St. John Properties, with the backing of the St. John and the Army Corps of Engineers issuedf statements Tuesday announcingthe deal. Wit said St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosed amount of money for its developmenyt rightsat Aberdeen. In connection with the St.
John has hired Opus East projecyt manager Matthew Holbrook to oversee the GATE project as its directorf of defense andgovernmenf business. “Aberdeen Proving Ground is excited abouft moving the project forwardwith St. John Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have theifr experienced management team spearheadingthe build-outr of this project.” As the to help it conside options including bankruptcy. Its parent company, , has also soughtg bankruptcy protectionfor it’s Opus South subsidiarty and for two more subsidiaries of its Opus West regionakl operation. Opus Corp.
spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is stilo evaluating its options but has not made any decisionswabout bankruptcy. The company was forcedd to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeen project because it has been unable to financer morethan $50 million in construction loans it took out to financre its projects. Most pressing amongb those debtsis $35 millioj the developer spent to build a new headquarterz for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in College Park, for whicgh it has sued the federal government to collect its wages on that project, Hewett said. St.
John plans to breakl ground in the next two months on at least three new buildings at the Harford County military with commitments from defense contractorse for upto 300,000 squarde feet of office, research and development space, Wit said. Wit did not discloses the names of any of those Those buildings would be in additiojn toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East complete in December 2008 for defenses contractor CACI. “We view this development as the most significant commercial real estate opportunity in the history ofour St. John President Edwardx A. St.
John said in a “This is based on the amount of square footage that can eventuallt be developed as well as the important work that will be completedrby end-users that occupy this space.” St. John Propertie s is the third-largest property management firm inGreatetr Baltimore, with nearly 11 million square feet of commercial space in the But taking over the Aberdeen project representss a shift for the company, whicu has sought to tap into the demand for governmentg contracting space up until now. Wit said the companyy has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease property from the governmenft such asat Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarilyy received commitments from firms seeking spac e atits 413-acre Government and Technology Enterprisew business park but did not start any additional construction. The developer was unwillin g to divide any of its buildingsinto multi-tenante space, Wit said, preferring instead to constructr buildings for a singles tenant. That’s created a pent-up demand for companies seekingfrom 5,0009 square feet to upward of 20,000 square Wit said. “For all the hooplwa that BRAC has brought, there’s really only one buildinv that Opus was ableto build,” Wit said.
“Ic you don’t have the place to park those people, if you don’ft have the buildings to put them in, therer was going to be a reallogistical problem.”