The reorganization of battered commercial developer Opus continues. Minnetonka-based Opus Holding LLC has bought the construction and design arms of Opus Northwest, leaving behind Opus Northwest's real estate assets, the company said Wednesday. Terms of the cash deal, which closed May 14, weren't disclosed.
The new entity is called Opus Design Build LLC, and it will also be based in Minnetonka with offices in Denver and Kansas City. About 50 of the 80 remaining workers at Opus Northwest have been given job offers, the company said. The remaining employees will remain with the real estate assets.
In February, Opus Northwest hired financial adviser MorrisAnderson & Associates Ltd. to explore a sale, among other options. A bidder for the remaining assets of Opus Northwest has been identified. The company wouldn't say how large the holdings are.
Dave Bangasser, Opus Design Build's president and chief executive, said the move makes Opus more competitive because it removes the financial uncertainty caused by the real estate holdings, which are completed projects. That's been a "hindrance" in the past 18 months, he said.
Gerald Rauenhorst founded Opus in 1953, and it grew to become a powerhouse commercial developer in the Twin Cities and a major player nationally. Its local developments include Shoppes at Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove, Carlyle, Grant Park, and First Bank Place in downtown Minneapolis.
But plunging real estate values shattered the firm in recent years, and it's been struggling to regroup. Three of its regional companies -- in Phoenix, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. -- filed for bankruptcy last year.
The Rauenhorst family trusts now own substantially all of Opus Holding LLC and Opus Holding Inc., an affiliate that bought Opus North in Chicago last December. The Opus organization continues to fight in a separate legal battle over whether about $150 million was siphoned out of Phoenix-based Opus West to the Rauenhorst trusts, eventually forcing Opus West into bankruptcy.
Jennifer Bjorhus • 612-673-4683
