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

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U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Propertiee into the fold, fearful the projectg would come to a halt if Opus East file d for bankruptcy protection before an arrangement couldbe struck, companhy spokesman Gerard J. Wit said in a telephone interview “It was a real round-the-clock, week-long efforrt to get this done,” Wit said. “We’re goinh to get in and try to kick-start this right Aberdeen is gearing up for a significant influsx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’ s Base Realignment and Closure expected to be completed by September 2011.
Abouy 8,200 military jobs will be transferre tothe base, in addition to as many as 18,00o0 private contracting jobs from companies that do businesa with the incoming military agencies. The approved Opus East's selection of St. John Properties to take over the Government and Technology Enterprise businesds park because of theBaltimorwe developer’s ability to move forward with new Bob Penn, program director with the Army said in a As in taking over the project, including (NYSE: OFC) and Manekinj LLC. Opus East was awarded rights to develoopthe government-owned land under a lease with the Army in Novembee 2007 and broke ground on its first buildinv in December of that year.
Since the company became straddled with millions of dollars in construction loans it has been unableto refinance, and the companyy has not started 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 Corpe of Engineers issued statements Tuesday announcing the Witsaid St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosee amount of money for its developmenrt rightsat Aberdeen. In connection with the St.
John has hiredf Opus East project manager Matthew Holbrook to oversee the GATE projecr as its director of defense andgovernment “Aberdeen Proving Ground is excitede about moving the project forward with St. John Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have theitr experienced management team spearheadinvgthe build-out of this As the to help it consider optiona including bankruptcy. Its parengt company, , has also sought bankruptcy protectionmfor it’s Opus South subsidiary and for two more subsidiarieas of its Opus West regional operation.
Opus spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is still evaluating its optionse but has not made any decisioneabout bankruptcy. The company was forcedx to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeen projectt because it has been unablde to finance morethan $50 million in construction loanx it took out to finance its projects. Most pressinf among those debtsis $35 millionh the developer spent to build a new headquarters for the Nationap Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in College Park, for whicyh it has sued the federal government to collect its wagez on that project, Hewett said. St.
John planse to break ground in the next two month s on at least three new buildings at the Harforcd Countymilitary base, with commitments from defense contractorsz for up to 300,000 squarse feet of office, research and development space, Wit Wit did not disclose the names of any of thosw tenants. Those buildings would be in addition toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East completeds in December 2008 for defense contractor “We view this development as the most significant commerciaol real estate opportunity in the history of our company,” St. John Presiden Edward A. St.
John said in a “This is based on the amount of square footage that can eventually be developec as well as the important work that will be completexdby end-users that occupy this space.” St. John Propertiess is the third-largest property management firm in Greater with nearly 11 million square feet of commercial space inthe region. But taking over the Aberdeebn project represents a shift for the which has sought to tap into the demanxd for government contracting space upuntil now.
Wit said the companhy has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease propertt from the government such as at Opus East preliminarily received commitments from firms seeking spacwe atits 413-acre Government and Technology Enterprise business park but did not start any additionap construction. The developer was unwilling to divide any of its buildingasinto multi-tenanted space, Wit said, preferring instead to constructt buildings for a single That’s created a pent-up demand for companies seeking from 5,000 squarse feet to upward of 20,000 square feet, Wit said.
“Fo r all the hoopla that BRAC has there’s really only one building that Opus was able to Wit said. “If you don’tr have the place to park thoss people, if you don’t have the buildingz to put them in, there was going to be a real logisticao problem.”