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

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Unable to refinance millions of dollarsin debts, the company plans to liquidate its portfoliok of commercial properties throughout the region. It was unclea r how much Opus East expects to fetch forits properties. Parenrt company , of Minneapolis, made the announcemen t in a news release and said another ofits Phoenix, Ariz.-based Opus West, expects to seek Chapter 11 protectio n in July. In its bankruptcy filing, the companyt listed assets ofbetween $50 milliob and $100 million and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 “Declining real estate values and tight credi t markets continue to impede the refinancing of asset s and restructuring of lending agreements,” Mark Rauenhort, CEO of Opus said in a In addition to general market conditions, the company cited $35 millionh in unpaid wages from the federa l for a project it was developinbg in College Park for the , companyu spokes woman Winston Hewett said in a telephone The company had ceased buildiny speculative office buildings more than a year ago, and it trimmexd its workforce from about 100 employeees last year to about 16 employeez as of June 15.
The company did not include all of its subsidiariesa inthe filing. It excluded, for Maryland Enterprise LLC, which was developing the propertyfor NOAA, and Nurser Corner LLC, which built a 160,000-square-foot office building in Linthicum Heightsd for defense contractor Opus East has developec more than 13.3 million squared feet of space since 1994. Opus West has developed more than 52.7 millioj square feet since 1979. These bankruptcies come on the heelzs of the April 22 bankruptcy of OpusSouth Corp., an Opus affiliatre based in Atlanta. Opus has said it planw to wind down its operations in that part of the countras well.
Opus has said it plans to continur to run its remainingoperating companies, Opus Nortg Corp., based in Chicago, and Opus based in Minnetonka. Those units are actively pursuinv projects. They also have been less affected by the due to their mix ofprojecft types, healthy balance sheet s and stronger markets, according to press release. Opus said its developmentg activity has fallen tojust 4.8 millio n square feet in 2009, down from 34 million squars feet in 2007 and 35 million square feet in 2008.