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

http://capitalrealestatewa.com/about-felixstowe-a-record-of-felixstowe-felixstowe-a-flavorsome-coastal-town.html
U.S. Army officials worked feverishlg over the past week topull St. John Properties into the fearful the project would come to a halt if Opus East filedc for bankruptcy protection before an arrangementt couldbe struck, company spokesmanb Gerard J. Wit said in a telephone interviewa Tuesday. “It was a real week-long effort to get this done,” Wit “We’re going to get in and try to kick-staryt this right away.” Aberdeen is gearing up for a significanty influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’xs Base Realignment and Closure plan, expected to be completedr by September 2011.
About 8,200 military jobs will be transferrexd tothe base, in additiomn to as many as 18,000 private contracting jobs from companiew that do business with the incoming militaryt agencies. The approved Opus East's selection of St. John Propertiews to take over the Government and Technologyg Enterprise business park because of theBaltimorw developer’s ability to move forwardr with new construction, Bob Penn, program director with the Army said in a statement. As in taking over the including (NYSE: OFC) and Manekij LLC.
Opus East was awarded rights to develop the government-owned land under a lease with the Army in Novembert 2007 and broke grouncd on its first building in December of that Since then, the company became straddled with millionx of dollars in construction loanxs it has been unable to and the company has not startes any new construction at the project for more than a year. The deal was inkeed June 19 betweenOpus St. John Properties, with the backinhg of the Army. St. John and the Army Corps of Engineers issued statements Tuesday announcing the Witsaid St. John will pay Opus East an undiscloseed amount of money for its developmenyt rightsat Aberdeen. In connection with the St.
John has hired Opus East projec manager Matthew Holbrook to oversee the GATE projectr as its director of defense andgovernmenrt business. “Aberdeen Proving Ground is excitex about moving the project forwardwith St. John Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrisom commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have their experienced management team spearheadingthe build-out of this As the to help it consider optionsw including bankruptcy. Its parent company, , has also sought bankruptcy protectionfor it’ws Opus South subsidiary and for two more subsidiariesa of its Opus West regional operation.
Opus spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is still evaluating its options but has not made any decisionxabout bankruptcy. The company was forced to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeen project because it has been unablwe to finance morethan $50 million in construction loanx it took out to finance its projects. Most pressing amongb those debtsis $35 million the developer spent to build a new headquartersw for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in College for which it has sued the federall government to collect its wages on that Hewett said. St.
John plans to break groundx in the next two months on at leasrt three new buildings at the Harford County military base, with commitments from defensde contractors for up to 300,000 square feet of research and development space, Wit said. Wit did not disclose the namew of any ofthose tenants. Those buildings woulr be in addition toa 60,000-square-foof building Opus East completed in Decembedr 2008 for defense contractotr CACI. “We view this developmeng as the most significant commerciaol real estate opportunity in the history ofour company,” St. John Presidenty Edward A. St.
John said in a “This is based on the amount of squar e footage that can eventually be developed as well as the importanf work that will be completedby end-users that occupyh this space.” St. John Properties is the third-largest propert y management firm inGreater Baltimore, with nearluy 11 million square feet of commercial spacd in the region. But takingb over the Aberdeen project represents a shift forthe company, whichy has sought to tap into the demand for government contracting space up untikl now.
Wit said the company has also soughr in the past to buy land for itsown developments, rathee than to lease property from the government such as at Opus East preliminarily received commitments from firmds seeking space at its 413-acre Government and Technology Enterpriss business park but did not staryt any additional construction. The developer was unwillinv to divide any of its buildingdsinto multi-tenanted space, Wit said, preferring instead to construct buildings for a single tenant. That’d created a pent-up demand for companies seekingtfrom 5,000 square feet to upwarsd of 20,000 square feet, Wit said.
“For all the hoopl a that BRAC has brought, there’s really only one buildinvg that Opus was able to Wit said. “If you don’t have the place to park thosde people, if you don’tf have the buildings to put them in, therr was going to be a real logistical problem.”