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

yfimuna.wordpress.com
U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Propertiees into the fold, fearful the project wouldx come to a halt if Opus East filec 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 effortg to get this done,” Wit “We’re going to get in and try to kick-start this righ t away.” Aberdeen is gearingy up for a significant influx of military jobs undetthe Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closurre plan, expected to be completed by Septembe r 2011.
About 8,200 military jobs will be transferred to the in addition to as manyas 18,000 private contracting jobs from companieds that do business with the incoming militarg agencies. The approved Opus East's selectiob of St. John Properties to take over the Government and Technologu Enterprise business park because of theBaltimore developer’s ability to move forward with new Bob Penn, program director with the Army Corps, said in a As in taking over the project, including OFC) and Manekin LLC. Opus East was awarded rights to develothe government-owned land undef a lease with the Army in Novemberf 2007 and broke ground on its firstr building in December of that year.
Sincre then, the company became straddlee with millions of dollars in constructiobn loans it has been unableto refinance, and the companty has not started any new construction at the projecy for more than a The deal was inked June 19 betweem Opus East, St. John Properties, with the backintg of the Army. St. John and the Army Corpsa of Engineers issued statements Tuesday announcing the Witsaid St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosedc amount of money for its development rightsat Aberdeen. In connectionm with the deal, St. John has hires Opus East project manager Matthew Holbrook to overser the GATE project as its directo of defense andgovernment business.
“Aberdeen Proving Groundc is excited about moving the projectt forwardwith St. John Properties,” Tim McNamara, APG deput garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have their experienced managemen team spearheadingthe build-out of this project.” As the to help it conside r options including bankruptcy. Its paren t company, , has also sought bankruptcy protectiomnfor it’s Opus South subsidiary and for two more subsidiariez of its Opus West regional Opus Corp. spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is stilll evaluating its options but has not made any decisionwsabout bankruptcy.
The companyy was forced to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeem project because it has been unable to financd morethan $50 million in constructionb loans it took out to financr its projects. Most pressing amonyg those debtsis $35 million the developer spent to build a new headquarters for the Nationall Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Collegs Park, for which it has sued the federakl government to collect its wagees on that project, Hewett said. St.
John plans to brea ground in the next two monthw on at least three new buildings at the Harforx Countymilitary base, with commitments from defense contractors for up to 300,000 squard feet of office, research and development space, Wit Wit did not disclose the namese of any of those tenants. Those buildingsd would be in addition toa 60,000-square-foort building Opus East completed in December 2008 for defense contractor “We view this development as the most significanrt commercial real estate opportunity in the histor of our company,” St. John Presideng Edward A. St.
John said in a “This is based on the amount of square footage that can eventuallgy be developed as well as the importanyt work that will be completedby end-userse that occupy this space.” St. John Properties is the third-largesft property management firm inGreater Baltimore, with nearlt 11 million square feet of commercial spaced in the region. But taking over the Aberdeen projectr represents a shift for the which has sought to tap into the demanf for government contracting space upuntil now. Wit said the companyy has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease propertyg from the government such asat Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarily received commitments from firmss seeking space atits 413-acre Government and Technologg Enterprise business park but did not starrt any additional construction. The developer was unwilling to dividre any of its buildingsinto multi-tenanted space, Wit said, preferrinfg instead to construct buildings for a single tenant. That’s createdf a pent-up demand for companies seekingfrom 5,000 squarse feet to upward of 20,000 square feet, Wit “For all the hoopla that BRAC has there’s really only one building that Opus was able to Wit said.
“If you don’t have the place to park thoswe people, if you don’t have the buildingsd to put them in, there was going to be a real logisticall problem.”