Opus West says it owes $1.46 billion - Orlando Business Journal:

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and some of its subsidiaries filed voluntaryy petitions late Monday for reorganization underChapter 11. Chapter 11 generallh removes the threat of lawsuits from creditors while a businesa seeks to rehabilitate itself andcontinude operations. Opus West and its affiliatesz reportedabout $1.28 billion in total assets and $1.456 billion in total liabilities, accordingb to bankruptcy court filings. The corporation and its affiliatees had combined revenue ofabouft $405 million in 2008. The parent companuy lists 200 to999 creditors, accordinf to bankruptcy filings. Opus West Corp.
owns about 20 real estatde development properties either directly or through entities set up to hold the the courtfilings say. The totall debt on those properties isabouyt $414 million and the valu of the properties is about $403 million. In additionn to Opus West Corp., the subsidiaries that have filed Chapte r 11 petitions are Opus West Construction OpusWest LP, Opus West Partnerds Inc. and O.W. Commercialp Inc. Opus West Corp. has guaranteexd about $1.15 billion in loans for its subsidiariew andjoint ventures, and most of those loans are in the court filings say.
Steep declines in commercial real estate values and difficult credi t market conditions necessitated the saidJohn Greer, chieft restructuring officer of Opus West. Greer said Opus West will keepa "modes presence" in Phoenix, Texas and Californiaw to work on asset dispositions and "While we began slowing the pace of new development nearly two years ago in anticipation of difficult markey conditions, we must now take additionalo measures to enable an orderly wind-down of our protect asset values and maximize return on investment," Greer said in a preparexd statement.
Opus West and its subsidiaries have suffered declininb financial performancesince 2008, resulting in defaults on certain credit lines and constrained liquidity, according to an affidavit filefd by Greer, managing member of New York-based Phoenix Capital Partners, which is the chietf restructuring officer of Opus West Greer is also president of the Opus West Opus West Partners and O.W. Commerciap subsidiaries. Opus has focused on recapitalizing through projectr salesand refinancing, but has been unable to do so because of poor market conditions, Greer's affidavit says.
Sincd 1979, Opus West and its affiliates have developedd more than 52 million square feetof office, retail, multifamily, government and institutional projects, the affidavi t says. The company's assetx include interests in commercial and residential real estat projectsacross California, Arizona and including condominium, office, industrial, apartment and retail projectsd in various stages of development, the affidavit says. Addison-basee Opus West LP, formed to develolp real estate propertiesin Texas, owns seven properties that consisrt of either vacant land, or a projectg under construction or completed projects.
The total debt on thosr properties isabout $105 million and their value is about $134 Greer's filing states. Opus has been dramatically scalinh back its North Texaz operations for more thana year. Opus spokeswomam Winston Hewett told the that the Addisom office has not started a new development in more than a year and has cut its stafgf in Dallas to 12 employees from about 40 ayear ago. Opus West'as overall headcount had dropped to 40 as ofJuly 1, compareed to 291 two years ago, Hewett Since April, dozens of subcontractorxs have filed liens totaling more than $4 milliom against Opus West and Opus West Construction tied to Two Addison a $23 million, 198,000-square-foot speculative office buildingg in Addison.
The building was developed and is ownec by OpusWest Corp. The liens claimn Opus owes the subcontractore for labor or materialss provided in the courseof construction. The six-story Two Addison building on the west side of the Dallaws North Tollway just north of Arapaho Road wasrecently completed, but has no tenants. The creditf crunch and slowing demand for office space left Opus unable to get permanent financingy to replacethe short-term construction loan on the Addisom project, Hewett said. Other Opus West Corp. projectxs in North Texas include 121 Lakepointe an office and industrial developmen tin Lewisville; and Broadstone Parkway, a 5.
8-acres mixed-use project at 5005 Galleriw Drive in North Dallas. Dallas area creditors include RL Murphey Commercial Roof owed $1.24 million; Green Fire Systemx of Texas, owed $856,660; and Ennis Steel Industries Inc., owed and Tas Commercial Concrete Construction, owed according to court records. Opus' troublea stem from the globaleconomic downturn, deterioration of the real estatew market and the credit crunch, which has made it difficul for borrowers to get financing to fund real estatde projects or refinance existing projects, Greer'w affidavit states. The turmoil has scared buyers, leadinb to excess supply and lower prices.
The dramatic downturn has caused Opus to be out of compliancee with terms of various loanws and unable to restructure and attempts to raise capital and sell assetas haveproven difficult, bringing about the Chapter 11 Greer's affidavit says. Opus' challenges vary considerably by saidMark Rauenhorst, chairman and CEO of Opus "Opus West faced particularly dramatidc drops in real estate values in marketds such as California and Arizona, and has been particularlg challenged by the sharp downturn in the capitak markets and availability of refinancing," he said.
Rauenhors t said that two other independent operating companie of OpusGroup -- and Opus Northwestf LLC -- have been less affecterd by the economic and capital market conditionx because of their mix of projecr types and their location in stronger , which is basedc in Minnetonka, Minn., is a design-build development firm that specializess in office, industrial, retail, multifamily, government and institutional projects. It also controla Washington-based LLC, which filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in late Opus Group saidits subsidiary, whicnh is based in filed for reorganization in bankruptcyt court on April 22.