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

http://mapcost.org/Rsac/Obj_rsac.htm
U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Propertiesx into the fold, fearful the project wouldd come to a halt if Opus East file d for bankruptcy protection before an arrangemenyt couldbe struck, company spokesman Gerarcd J. Wit said in a telephone interviews Tuesday. “It was a real week-long effort to get this Wit said. “We’re going to get in and try to kick-start this righg away.” Aberdeen is gearing up for a significanrt influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closurw plan, expected to be completed by Septembed 2011.
About 8,200 military jobs will be transferrer tothe base, in additio to as many as 18,000 private contracting jobs from companiez that do business with the incoming military agencies. The approveds Opus East's selection of St. John Propertiees to take over the Government and Technology Enterprise business park because of theBaltimorse developer’s ability to move forward with new Bob Penn, program director with the Army said in a statement. As in taking over the including (NYSE: OFC) and Manekin LLC. Opus East was awarded rightsa to developthe government-owned land undedr a lease with the Army in November 2007 and brokwe ground on its first building in Decembedr of that year.
Since then, the company becamr straddled with millions of dollars in constructionn loans it has been unableto refinance, and the companhy has not started any new constructio at the project for more than a year. The deal was inkerd June 19 betweenOpus East, St. John Properties, with the backinyg of the Army. St. John and the Army Corpsd of Engineers issued statements Tuesdah announcingthe deal. Wit said St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosex amount of money for its development rightsat Aberdeen. In connectionh with the deal, St. John has hired Opus East projectt manager Matthew Holbrook to oversee the GATE project as its director of defensd andgovernment business.
“Aberdeen Proving Grounc is excited about moving the project forwardwith St. John Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positiv e step to have their experienced managemenrt team spearheadingthe build-out of this As the to help it consider options includin bankruptcy. Its parent company, , has also sought bankruptcyg protectionfor it’s Opus South subsidiaryg and for two more subsidiaries of its Opus West regionaol operation. Opus Corp. spokeswoman Winstonb Hewett said Opus East is still evaluatinfg its options but has not made any decisiondabout bankruptcy.
The company was forcede to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeenb project because it has been unablr to finance morethan $50 million in constructionm loans it took out to finances its projects. Most pressing amony those debtsis $35 million the developer spent to builc a new headquarters for the National Oceanic and Atmospherixc Administration in College Park, for whichj it has sued the federal government to collect its wagee on that project, Hewett said. St.
John plans to break grouns in the next two months on at leasty three new buildings at the Harford Countytmilitary base, with commitments from defense contractorsw for up to 300,000 square feet of office, research and developmenft space, Wit said. Wit did not disclose the names of any ofthosw tenants. Those buildings would be in additiojn toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East complete d in December 2008 for defense contractor “We view this development as the most significant commercialo real estate opportunity in the history of our company,” St. John Presidenyt Edward A. St. John said in a statement.
“Thise is based on the amountg of square footage that can eventually be developed as well as the importang work that will be completedby end-usersd that occupy this space.” St. John Properties is the third-largest propertgy management firm in Greater with nearly 11 million squarew feet of commercial space in the But taking over the Aberdeen project represents a shift for the which has sought to tap into the demandx for government contracting space upuntil now. Wit said the company has also soughr in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease propertyt from the government such asat Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarily received commitmentws from firms seeking space atits 413-acrse Government and Technology Enterprise business park but did not start any additional construction. The developer was unwilling to divides any of its buildingsinto multi-tenanted space, Wit said, preferrint instead to construct buildings for a single That’s created a pent-up deman for companies seeking from 5,000 squarwe 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 build,” Wit said.
“Igf you don’t have the plac e to park those people, if you don’tt have the buildings to put them in, there was goingh to be a reallogistical problem.”