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

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U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Propertiesd into the fold, fearful the projecyt would come to a halt if Opus East filed for bankruptch protection before an arrangement couldfbe struck, company spokesman Gerare J. Wit said in a telephone interview “It was a real round-the-clock, week-long effort to get this Wit said. “We’re going to get in and try to kick-stary this right away.” Aberdeen is gearinyg up for a significanyt influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’s Base Realignmeng and Closure plan, expected to be completec by September 2011.
About 8,2000 military jobs will be transferred to the in addition to as manyas 18,000 privat e contracting jobs from companies that do business with the incomingg military agencies. The selected St. John Properties to take over the Governmenyt and Technology Enterprise business park because of theBaltimorre developer’s ability to move forward 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 awardes rights to developthe government-owned land under a lease with the Army in Novembefr 2007 and broke ground on its firstr building in December of that Since then, the company became straddled with million s of dollars in construction loans it has been unabld to refinance, and the company has not started any new constructionh at the project for more than a year. The deal was inkexd June 19 betweenOpus St. John Properties and the Wit said. St. John and the Army Corps of Engineeras issued statements Tuesday announcing the Witsaid St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosed amount of money for its development rightsat Aberdeen. In connection with the deal, St.
John has hired Opus East projecg manager Matthew Holbrook to oversee the GATE project as its directod of defense andgovernment “Aberdeen Proving Ground is excited about movin g the project forward with St. John Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrison said in a statement. “We conside it a positive step to have their experienced managemenr team spearheadingthe build-out of this project.” As the to help it considerr options including bankruptcy. Its parentf company, , has also sought bankruptcu protectionfor it’s Opus Southn subsidiary and for two more subsidiaries of its Opus West regionall operation. Opus Corp.
spokeswoman Winstoj Hewett said Opus East is stilo evaluating its options but has not made any decisionasabout bankruptcy. The company was force d to relinquish its rights to the Aberdeen projecf because it has been unable to finance morethan $50 milliohn in construction loans it took out to finances its projects. Most pressing amont those debtsis $35 million the developer speny to build a new headquarters for the National Oceanicv and Atmospheric Administration in College Park, for which it has sued the federalo government to collect its wagesa on that project, Hewett said. St.
John planas to break ground in the next two month on at least three new buildings at the Harfors Countymilitary base, with commitmentw from defense contractors for up to 300,0090 square feet of office, research and developmenf space, Wit said. Wit did not disclosr the names of any ofthose tenants. Those buildings would be in additionb toa 60,000-square-foot building Opus East completed in December 2008 for defense contractor “We view this development as the most significant commerciaol real estate opportunity in the historyh of our company,” St. John President Edward A. St.
John said in a “This is based on the amounf of square footage that can eventually be developerd as well as the important work that will be completedeby end-users that occupy this space.” St. John Properties is the third-largestf property management firm inGreater Baltimore, with nearly 11 milliojn square feet of commercialk space in the region. But takingv over the Aberdeen project representz a shift for the which has sought to tap into the demanrd for government contracting space upuntil now. Wit said the compan has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease property from the government such asat Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarily received commitmentss from firms seeking space atits 413-acre Government and Technology Enterprise business park but did not start any additiona construction. The developer was unwilling to divid any of its buildingsinto multi-tenanted Wit said, preferring instead to construct buildings for a single That’s created a pent-uo demand for companies seeking from 5,000 square feet to upwarx of 20,000 square feet, Wit said.
“For all the hooplaq that BRAC has brought, there’s really only one buildinhg that Opus was ableto build,” Wit “If you don’t have the place to park those people, if you don’ t have the buildings to put them in, therse was going to be a real logisticalp problem.”