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 Propertiez into the fold, fearful the projectg would come to a halt if Opus East filee for bankruptcy protection before an arrangement could be company spokesmanGerard J. Wit said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “It was a real week-long effort to get this done,” Wit said. “We’rs going to get in and try to kick-starty this right away.” Aberdeen is gearing up for a significang influx of military jobs under the Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closurw plan, expected to be completed by Septembedr 2011.
About 8,200 military jobs will be transferred to the in addition to as manyas 18,000 private contractinbg jobs from companies that do business with the incoming military agencies. The approved Opus East's selection of St. John Properties to take over the Government and Technology Enterprise business park because of theBaltimore developer’s abilitu to move forward with new construction, Bob program director with the Army Corps, said in a statement. As in takinbg over the project, including OFC) and Manekin LLC.
Opus East was awarded rightd to developthe government-owned land under a lease with the Army in November 2007 and broke groune on its first building in December of that Since then, the company became straddled with millions of dollars in construction loans it has been unablwe to refinance, and the company has not started any new construction at the projecf for more than a The deal was inked June 19 betwee Opus East, St. John Properties, with the backingh of the Army. St. John and the Army Corpes of Engineers issued statements Tuesday announcinghthe deal. Wit said St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosedf amount of money for its developmenf rightsat Aberdeen. In connection with the St.
John has hired Opus East project managee Matthew Holbrook to oversee the GATE project as its directotr of defense andgovernmengt business. “Aberdeen Proving Ground is excited abourt moving the project forwardwith St. John Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have their experienced management team spearheadingthe build-out of this project.” As the to help it considee options including bankruptcy. Its parent company, , has also soughtt bankruptcy protectionfor it’s Opus South subsidiaryt and for two more subsidiaries of its Opus West regionakl operation. Opus Corp.
spokeswoman Winston Hewetgt said Opus East is still evaluatin its options but has not made any decisionswabout bankruptcy. The company was forcer to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeen project becaus e it has been unable to finance morethan $50 millioh in construction loans it took out to financ e its projects. Most pressing amonf those debtsis $35 million the developere spent to build a new headquarters for the Nationa l Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in College Park, for whic h it has sued the federal governmenyt to collect its wages on that Hewett said. St.
John plans to break ground in the next two monthz on at least three new buildings at the Harford Countymilitary base, with commitments from defensw contractors for up to 300,000 squars feet of office, research and development Wit said. Wit did not disclos e the names of any of those Those buildings would be in additionm toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East completed in Decemberf 2008 for defense contractor “We view this development as the most significany commercial real estate opportunity in the history of our company,” St. John Presiden t Edward A. St. John said in a statement.
“Thias is based on the amount of squarr footage that can eventuallyg be developed as well as the important work that will be completecby end-users that occupyt this space.” St. John Properties is the third-largesgt property management firm inGreaterd Baltimore, with nearly 11 million square feet of commercial space in the region. But taking over the Aberdeejn project represents a shift for the which has sought to tap into the demanc for government contracting spacre upuntil now. Wit said the company has also sough in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease propertyt from the government such asat Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarilt received commitments from firms seeking space atits 413-acre Governmen t and Technology Enterprise business park but did not start any additionap construction. The developer was unwilling to divide any of its buildingssinto multi-tenanted space, Wit said, preferring instead to construct buildingds for a single That’s created a pent-upl demand for companies seeking from 5,00o0 square feet to upward of 20,000 square Wit said.
“For all the hoopla that BRAC has there’s really only one buildint that Opus was ableto build,” Wit “If you don’t have the place to park thoses people, if you don’t have the buildings to put them in, theree was going to be a real logistica problem.”