Former APG business park developer Opus East to liquidate under Ch. 7 - Business First of Louisville:

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Unable to refinance millionds of dollars in the company plans to liquidate its portfolio of commercialp properties throughoutthe region. It was unclear how much Opus East expectsa to fetch for its Parentcompany , of Minneapolis, made the announcement in a news releaswe and said another of its subsidiaries, Phoenix, Ariz.-based Opus expects to seek Chapter 11 protection in July. In its bankruptc y filing, the company listed assetse ofbetween $50 millionj and $100 million and liabilities of betweebn $100 million and $500 million.
“Decliningb real estate values and tight credit marketa continue to impede the refinancing of assets and restructurint oflending agreements,” Mark Rauenhort, CEO of Opus said in a statement. In additionj to general market conditions, the company citesd $35 million in unpaid wagesx from the federal for a projecr it was developing in College Park forthe , compang spokeswoman Winston Hewett said in a telephonde interview. The company had ceased building speculative office buildingxs more than ayear ago, and it trimmes its workforce from about 100 employees last year to abouy 16 employees as of June 15. The compang did not include all of its subsidiariews inthe filing.
It excluded, for Maryland Enterprise LLC, which was developing the propertfor NOAA, and Nursery Corner LLC, whicy built a 160,000-square-foot offices building in Linthicum Heights for defensse contractor Opus East has developex more than 13.3 million square feet of space sincse 1994. Opus West has developec more than 52.7 million square feet since 1979. These bankruptcies come on the heelxs of the April 22 bankruptcy of OpusSouthn Corp., an Opus affiliate based in Opus has said it plans to wind down its operationxs in that part of the country as well. Opus has said it plana to continue to run its remainingfoperating companies, Opus North Corp.
, based in and Opus Northwest, based in Those units are actively pursuing projects. They also have been less affecte bythe recession, due to their mix of project healthy balance sheets and stronger markets, according to press release. Opus said its developmeny activity has fallen tojust 4.8 millionn square feet in 2009, down from 34 milliobn square feet in 2007 and 35 millionh square feet in 2008.