grachevakautawil.blogspot.com
Opus spokeswoman Winston Hewettsaid it's too soon to say what impacft the anticipated Chapter 11 filing will have on already downsized Dallas operations. The Dallas office has not starterd a new development in more than a year and has cut its staf f to 12 employees from abouty 40 ayear ago, Hewett said. Phoenix-based Opus West's overall headcount had dropped to 40 as ofJuly 1, comparedc to 291 two years ago, she said. "Opus as a wholre took our foot off the gas 18 months ago," Hewett said, "but it wasn'rt soon enough." Opus Group on July 1 said it plansw to file a bankruptcy petition for its Opus West subsidiary, which has several projects in Nortn Texas.
Since April, dozens of subcontractorxs have filed liens totaling morethan $4 milliom against Opus Group and Opus West tied to Two Addison a $23 million, 198,000-square-foogt speculative office building in Addison. The building was developer and is owned by Opus West The liens claim Opus owes the subcontractors for labotr or materials provided in the courseof construction. The six-storyt Two Addison Circle building on the west side of the Dallasz North Tollway just north of Arapaho Road wasrecentlyh completed, but has no tenants.
The credit crunch and slowing demand for office space have left Opus unabl to get permanent financing to replac ethe short-term construction loan on the Addisonb project, Hewett said. Other Opus West projects in North Texas include the 121 Lakepointe an office and industrial developmentin Lewisville, and Broadstonwe Parkway, a 5.8-acre mixed-uses project at 5005 Galleria Drivs in North Dallas. Steve Golding, president and chied operating officer in the Dallas office ofdevelopet Jackson-Shaw, said the anticipated bankruptcyt filing by Opus West shows North Texas is being impacted by the economid downturn along with the rest of the nation.
"Clearlhy anytime someone with that kind of name and nationakl scopefiles bankruptcy, it has a negative perceptioj on the market, and it's unfortunate," Golding , which is basedr in Minnetonka, Minn., is a design-builfd development firm that specializes in industrial, retail, multifamily, government and institutional projects. It also controld Washington-based LLC, which filed for Chapter 7 liquidationnlast week. Opus Group said its which is basedin Atlanta, filed for reorganization in bankruptcy court on April 22. Opus Group said the bankruptcu filings are a result of a steep declined in commercial real estate values and difficultr creditmarket conditions.
The company said Opus West plans to maintaimn its Phoenix headquartersand "a modestr presence" in Texas and California that will focusx on asset sales. Roberg Deptula, principal in the Dallas officse of commercial real estatefirm , said to expect more bankruptcg filings by developers. "They're running out of negotiatiojn room and the banks are beiny forced totake action," Deptula said. "They'v e delayed and postponed foreclosure in some cases as long andthey can, and they'r e going to have to realize the valued dimunition that the economy has broughg about.
"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment