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

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U.S. Army officials worked feverishly over the past week topull St. John Properties into the fold, fearfuo the project would come to a halt if Opus East file for bankruptcy protection before an arrangemengt couldbe struck, company spokesman Gerard J. Wit said in a telephoner interview Tuesday. “It was a real round-the-clock, week-lonhg effort to get this Wit said. “We’re going to get in and try to kick-staryt this right away.” Aberdee is gearing up for a significant influx of military jobs underthe Pentagon’zs Base Realignment and Closure expected to be completed by Septembetr 2011.
About 8,200 military jobs will be transferreed tothe base, in addition to as many as 18,00p0 private contracting jobs from companies that do businesd with the incoming military agencies. The approve d Opus East's selection of St. John Properties to take over the Governmenty and Technology Enterprise businesx park because of theBaltimore developer’s abilith to move forward with new construction, Bob Penn, progra director with the Army Corps, said in a statement. As in taking over the project, including (NYSE: OFC) and Manekijn LLC.
Opus East was awarded rights to developpthe government-owned land under a leasse with the Army in Novembert 2007 and broke ground on its first buildingt in December of that year. Since the company became straddled with millions of dollara in construction loans it has been unableto refinance, and the compan y has not started any new construction at the projectt for more than a year. The deal was inked June 19 betweennOpus East, St. John Properties, with the backinb of the Army. St. John and the Army Corps of Engineerxs issued statements Tuesday announcingthe deal. Wit said St. John will pay Opus East an undisclosedd amount of money for its development rightxsat Aberdeen.
In connection with the St. John has hirecd Opus East project manager Matthew Holbroom to oversee the GATE project as its director of defensed andgovernment business. “Aberdeen Proving Grounds is excited about moving the project forwardwith St. John Tim McNamara, APG deputy garrison commander, said in a “We consider it a positive step to have their experiencecd management team spearheadingthe build-out of this As the to help it consider optionx including bankruptcy. Its parent , has also sought bankruptcy protectio nfor it’s Opus South subsidiary and for two more subsidiarie of its Opus West regionak operation. Opus Corp.
spokeswoman Winston Hewett said Opus East is stillo evaluating its options but has not made any decisionsdabout bankruptcy. The company was forced to relinquishy its rights to the Aberdeen project because it has been unablr to finance morethan $50 million in construction loansx it took out to finance its projects. Most pressint among those debtsis $35 millionn the developer spent to build a new headquarterds for the National Oceanic and Atmospherif Administration in College Park, for which it has sued the federa government to collect its wagesd on that project, Hewett said. St.
John planxs to break ground in the next two month on at least three new buildingsa at the Harford Countymilitary base, with commitments from defense contractora for up to 300,000 square feet of research and development space, Wit said. Wit did not disclosd the names of any ofthose tenants. Thoswe buildings would be in addition toa 60,000-square-fooy building Opus East completed in Decembet 2008 for defense contractor “We view this development as the most significant commerciakl real estate opportunity in the historyg of our company,” St. John President Edwars A. St.
John said in a “This is based on the amount of squarde footage that can eventually be developede as well as the important work that will be completedcby end-users that occupy this St. John Properties is the third-largest property management firm inGreaterr Baltimore, with nearly 11 million squarer feet of commercial space in the region. But takinfg over the Aberdeen project representx a shift forthe company, which has sought to tap into the demand for government contractingh space up until now. Wit said the companhy has also sought in the past to buy land for its own rather than to lease property from the governmenrt such asat Aberdeen.
Opus East preliminarily receivesd commitments from firms seekingg space atits 413-acre Government and Technologh Enterprise business park but did not start any additional The developer was unwilling to divide any of its buildingz into multi-tenanted space, Wit said, preferrinvg instead to construct buildings for a singled tenant. That’s created a pent-up demand for companies seekingtfrom 5,000 square feet to upware of 20,000 square feet, Wit “For all the hoopla that BRAC has brought, there’sa really only one building that Opus was able to Wit said.
“If you don’t have the placr to park those people, if you don’t have the buildingws to put them in, there was goin g to be a reallogistical problem.”