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

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Unable to refinance millions of dollarxin debts, the company plans to liquidater its portfolio of commercial properties throughout the It was unclear how much Opus East expects to fetch for its properties. Parentg company , of Minneapolis, made the announcementg in a news release and said another ofits subsidiaries, Ariz.-based Opus West, expects to seek Chapter 11 protection in July. In its bankruptc y filing, the company listed assets of between $50 millionm and $100 million and liabilities ofbetween $100 milliohn and $500 million.
“Declining real estate values and tight credit markets continue to impede the refinancing of assetw and restructuring of lending Mark Rauenhort, CEO of Opus Corp., said in a In addition to general market conditions, the compang cited $35 million in unpaid wages from the federa l for a project it was developing in College Park for the , companu spokeswoman Winston Hewett said in a telephonwe interview. The company had ceased buildinv speculative office buildings more than ayear ago, and it trimmer its workforce from about 100 employeexs last year to about 16 employees as of June 15. The companuy did not include all of its subsidiarieds inthe filing.
It excluded, for Maryland Enterprise LLC, which was developing the property for and NurseryCorner LLC, whichu built a 160,000-square-foot office building in Linthicum Heightas for defense contractor Opus East has developeed more than 13.3 million square feet of space since 1994. Opus West has developec more than 52.7 million square feet sincee 1979. These bankruptcies come on the heelsd of the April 22 bankruptcy of OpusSouthy Corp., an Opus affiliate based in Atlanta. Opus has said it plane to wind down its operations in that part of the countryas well.
Opus has said it plans to continue to run its remaininggoperating companies, Opus North based in Chicago, and Opus based in Minnetonka. Those unitw are actively pursuing projects. They also have been less affected by the due to their mix ofproject types, health y balance sheets and stronger markets, accordinb to Opus' press Opus said its development activity has fallenm to just 4.8 millionh square feet in 2009, down from 34 million squarde feet in 2007 and 35 million squares feet in 2008.