Phoenix-based Opus West Corp., one of Orange County’s largest commercial developers the past decade, confirmed on Wednesday that the company would soon be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The company, whose Irvine office headed up the development of close to 10 million square feet of commercial and housing space in Southern California, has retained lawyers to explore restructuring options, officials said in a statement.
At the current time, no filing date has been set. Opus West is anticipating filing for bankruptcy by early July, the company said.
A filing for Opus West,which has been hit hard by declines in commercial real estate values and the tough credit market,has been widely expected in real estate circles since May. A handful of individual projects for the company outside of California had already filed bankruptcy petitions.
The company will maintain its headquarters in Phoenix and a modest presence in both California and Texas to focus primarily on asset sales, according to the company. As of last week, only a handful of employees remained at the company’s Irvine office.
Paul Marshall, who ran Opus West’s largest division out of Irvine, told the Business Journal last week he is leaving the company to start his own company, Sequoia Property & Development. The company is expected to be based in Irvine.
Marshall plans to work with private and institutional investors to buy, manage and reposition distressed properties. Existing Opus West properties, in Orange County and elsewhere, could be potential sources of deals for the venture, according to Marshall.
Also on Wednesday, a sister company, Opus East LLC, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning the company will liquidate. Another sister company, Opus South Corp., filed for Chapter 11 protection in May.
