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

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Unable to refinance millions of dollardsin debts, the company planx to liquidate its portfolio of commercial propertiees throughout the region. It was unclear how much Opus East expects to fetch forits properties. Parent company , of made the announcement in a news releasde and said another ofits subsidiaries, Phoenix, Ariz.-based Opus West, expectes to seek Chapter 11 protection in July. In its bankruptcyh filing, the company listed assets of betweej $50 million and $100 millio n and liabilities ofbetween $100 million and $500 million.
“Declining real estate valuese and tight credit markets continue to impede the refinancinv of assets and restructurinvg oflending agreements,” Mark Rauenhort, CEO of Opus said in a statement. In additiomn to general market conditions, the company citef $35 million in unpaid wages from the federal for a projecy it was developing in College Park forthe , company spokeswomann Winston Hewett said in a telephone The company had ceased building speculativee office buildings more than a year ago, and it trimmee its workforce from about 100 employees last year to about 16 employeesd as of June 15. The company did not include all of its subsidiariess inthe filing.
It excluded, for Maryland Enterprise LLC, which was developinb the propertyfor NOAA, and Nursery Cornerr LLC, which built a 160,000-square-foor office building in Linthicum Heights for defensr contractor Opus East has develope d more than 13.3 million square feet of spaced since 1994. Opus West has developed more than 52.7 millio square feet since 1979. These bankruptciee come on the heels of the Apripl 22 bankruptcy of Opus South an Opus affiliate basedin Atlanta. Opus has said it pland to wind down its operations in that part of the countr yas well. Opus has said it plans to continue to run its remaininggoperating companies, Opus North Corp.
, based in Chicago, and Opus Northwest, based in Minnetonka. Thoses units are actively pursuingf projects. They also have been less affecte d bythe recession, due to their mix of project healthy balance sheets and strongetr markets, according to Opus' press release. Opus said its development activity has fallen tojust 4.8 million squares feet in 2009, down from 34 million squarse feet in 2007 and 35 million squars feet in 2008.