St. John Properties takes over Opus East business park at Aberdeen Proving Ground - Business First of Louisville:

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U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Propertiesx into the fold, fearful the projectf would come to a halt if Opus East filed for bankruptcyy protection before an arrangement couldbe struck, compant spokesman Gerard J. Wit said in a telephone interviewq Tuesday. “It was a real week-long effort to get this done,” Wit “We’re going to get in and try to kick-start this right away.” Aberdeen is gearinb up for a significanft influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closur e plan, expected to be completed by Septembeer 2011.
About 8,200 military jobs will be transferreds tothe base, in addition to as many as 18,000 privates contracting jobs from companies that do business with the incomin g military agencies. The approve Opus East's selection of St. John Properties to take over the Government and Technology Enterprise business park because of theBaltimord developer’s ability to move forware with new construction, Bob program director with the Army Corps, said in a As in taking over the project, including OFC) and Manekin LLC.
Opus East was awardex rights to developthe government-owned land under a leasd with the Army in November 2007 and brokes ground on its first building in December of that Since then, the compant became straddled with millions of dollars in constructionj loans it has been unable to refinance, and the companuy has not started any new construction at the project for more than a year. The deal was inked June 19 betweehnOpus East, St. John Properties, with the backingf of the Army. 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 development rights at In connection withthe deal, St. John has hiredf Opus East project manager Matthew Holbrook to oversede the GATE project as its director of defense andgovernmenf business. “Aberdeen Proving Grounr is excited about moving the project forwardwith St. John Properties,” Tim APG deputy garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have theit experienced management team spearheadingthe build-out of this As the to help it consider options including Its parent company, , has also soughgt bankruptcy protection for it’s Opus South subsidiary and for two more subsidiariesw of its Opus West regional operation.
Opus spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is stillk evaluating its options but has not made any decisions about bankruptcy. The company was forced to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeen project because it has been unable to financw morethan $50 million in construction loanas it took out to finance its projects. Most pressin among those debtsis $35 million the developetr spent to build a new headquartersw for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Collegre Park, for which it has sued the federal governmen t to collect its wages on that project, Hewett St.
John plans to break grouned in the next two months on at least threee new buildings at the Harford County military base, with commitments from defense contractors for up to 300,00 0 square feet of office, researcbh and development space, Wit said. Wit did not disclose the names of any ofthose tenants. Thoses buildings would be in additiobn toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East completes in December 2008 for defense contractor CACI. “Wd view this development as the most significanrt commercial real estate opportunit y in the history ofour company,” St. John Presidentg Edward A. St.
John said in a “This is based on the amount of squares footage that can eventually be developed as well as the importantt work that will be completedby end-users that occupy this St. John Properties is the third-larges t property management firm inGreatef Baltimore, with nearly 11 million square feet of commercial spacw in the region. But taking over the Aberdeen projec represents a shift forthe company, which has sough to tap into the demandf for government contracting space up until now.
Wit said the companuy has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to leasse property from the government such as at Opus East preliminarily received commitments from firms seekingb space atits 413-acre Government and Technology Enterprise businessw park but did not start any additional construction. The developeer was unwilling to dividee any of its buildingwsinto multi-tenanted space, Wit said, preferring insteadf to construct buildings for a single tenant. That’s created a pent-up demand for companie s seekingfrom 5,000 square feet to upward of 20,00 0 square feet, Wit said.
“For all the hooplwa that BRAC has brought, there’xs really only one building that Opus was able to Wit said. “If you don’t have the plac e to park those people, if you don’t have the buildinges to put them in, there was going to be a real logistical problem.”