MINNEAPOLIS-The locally-based Opus Group has agreed to purchase about 74 acres of developable properties in Minnesota and South Dakota from its former affiliate Opus Northwest LLC. The move will leave Opus Northwest, now an entity being liquidated for creditors, with about $100 million in property mainly on the West Coast.

The Northwest company, with offices in Denver, Kansas City, MO, Portland, WA, Seattle and St. Louis, was formerly part of the Rauenhorst Family Trust-owned Opus empire. However, the company saw downsizing after the economic downturn, with the liquidation of Washington, DC-based Opus East, and Opus South and Opus West going through bankruptcy. In June, the subsidiary Opus Design Build spent $300 million to acquire some assets owned by Northwest. Now, Lighthouse Management Group is liquidating Northwest’s assets.

The new Opus Group now consists of Opus Holding, Opus Development Corp., Opus Design Build LLC and Opus AE Group Inc. Tim Murnane, president and CEO of Opus Holding LLC, tells GlobeSt.com that his company will either sell the properties or find build-to-suit deals. “These assets are very familiar to us, we were the lead developer in a lot of cases,” says Murnane, who was formerly with the Northwest firm. “We’re going to be selling some of the property right away, or looking at it for future development. We’re currently quoting some potential build-to-suit activities, talking to a number of Fortune 500 companies to do build-to-suits for them.”

The acquired land totals 74 acres and includes two sites in downtown Minneapolis; 11 retail center outlots (six outlots at Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove, MN, one outlot at Woodbury Lakes in Woodbury, MN., and four outlots at Shoppes on Maine in Rochester, MN); 40 acres of industrial land in Shakopee, MN; 5 acres of land in Cambridge, MN; 7 acres of land in Minnetonka, MN; and 7 acres of land in Sioux Falls, SD. Murnane says the land in Sioux Falls has already been sold to an affiliate of Lloyd Cos.