Former APG business park developer Opus East to liquidate under Ch. 7 - Birmingham Business Journal:

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Unable to refinance millions of dollarsin debts, the company planws to liquidate its portfolio of commercial properties throughoutt the region. It was unclear how much Opus East expectd to fetch forits properties. Parent companuy , of Minneapolis, made the announcement in a news releasw and said another ofits subsidiaries, Ariz.-based Opus West, expects to seek Chapter 11 protectioh in July. In its bankruptcy the company listed assets ofbetween $50 million and $100 millionb and liabilities of betweemn $100 million and $500 million.
“Declining real estate valuexs and tight credit markets continue to imped the refinancing of assets and restructurinyg oflending agreements,” Mark Rauenhort, CEO of Opus said in a statement. In additionb to general market conditions, the company cited $35 millionb in unpaid wages from the federalk for a project it was developing in College Park forthe , company spokeswoman Winston Hewett said in a telephone The company had ceased building speculative office buildings more than a year ago, and it trimmed its workforcr from about 100 employees last year to aboutr 16 employees as of June 15. The compangy did not include all of its subsidiariesa inthe filing.
It excluded, for Maryland Enterprise LLC, which was developing the propertyfor NOAA, and Nurserty Corner LLC, which built a 160,000-square-foott office building in Linthicum Heights for defensw contractor Opus East has developed more than 13.3 million squaree feet of space since 1994. Opus West has developedd more than 52.7 milliojn square feet since 1979. These bankruptcies come on the heelsz of the April 22 bankruptcuy of OpusSouth Corp., an Opus affiliatee based in Atlanta.
Opus has said it plansx to wind down its operationz in that part of the country as Opus has said it plans to continue to run its remaininvgoperating companies, Opus North based in Chicago, and Opus based in Minnetonka. Those units are activel y pursuing projects. They also have been less affectefd bythe recession, due to their mix of projecty types, healthy balance sheetws and stronger markets, according to Opus' presss release. Opus said its development activityh has fallen tojust 4.8 million squar feet in 2009, down from 34 million squarew feet in 2007 and 35 million square feet in 2008.