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Sale is news at summit
ACPT head says purchase by D.C. firm moving fast
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Millard Firebaugh speaks Tuesday about the development of energetics technology facilities at the 12th annual Charles County Economic Development Summit at the Jaycees center in Waldorf.
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The developer of the St. Charles community in Waldorf is one step closer to being bought by a Washington, D.C., company, the developer's CEO announced this week.
At the 12th annual Charles County Economic Development Summit, Steve Griessel said American Community Properties Trust has signed a "definitive agreement" to sell itself to Federal Capital Partners. The day of the summit Tuesday marked the end of the "go shop period" during which other companies could make offers to buy the Waldorf-based developer of the St. Charles Towne Center mall and numerous residential neighborhoods, he added.
The summit brings elected officials and businesspeople together to discuss the county's economy.
This year's agenda included presentations about tourism, sports marketing, economic trends and other subjects.
Griessel anticipated the deal would be finalized early next year but cautioned in an interview that any sale depends on approval of 67 percent of shareholders, something that should not be taken for granted. However, the Wilson family, which owns more than 50 percent of the company's stock, is behind the deal, he said.
The sale will not interfere with local operations and layoffs are not anticipated, Griessel said in an interview. ACPT approved a purchase by Federal Capital because "No. 1, they believe in our strategy, No. 2 they believe in our management; it's not just assets they're buying, they're buying the team. Thirdly, they believe in St. Charles," Griessel said.
Going private is in the best interest of the company, in part because being publicly owned entails about $2.2 million in annual expenses for ACPT, Griessel said.
In an interview at the Jaycees center, Charles County Commissioner Gary V. Hodge (D) said he was sure the deal would be good for the county.
"I think the watchword will be stability after the acquisition. It's our expectation that there will be continuity of leadership, that the management team stays intact and the plans and visions for St. Charles stay intact," Hodge said. "… For 30 years, St. Charles has had a very deliberate design … and now they're doing some exciting things with green development we'll hear about in the future."
When introducing Griessel, Hodge lauded ACPT for practicing "smart growth [which] is good for Charles County. It is to focus growth in Waldorf and discourage sprawl in the rural areas of the county," he said.
According to the commissioner, St. Charles boasts 40,000 residents, 25 percent of the county's population on 2 percent of its land.
During his presentation, Griessel said the housing market collapse had been less severe in St. Charles than in Washington, D.C., or the nation as a whole, and specifically that "foreclosures are a complete nonevent for us, thank God."
It's essential that ACPT not curtail development in a poor economy, because the downturn's effects could last for a long time, Griessel said.
"I think the idea of waiting for things to get better is a disaster for all of us. … This is the new new. I call it ‘dancing in the rain.' It's going to be raining for a long time so we'd better learn to dance in the rain rather than waiting for the sun to shine," he said.
The company is working to accommodate a shift in demand away from mansions and toward small homes and townhouses. While housing prices remain low, factors such as dropping building costs and the federal tax credit for homebuyers keep development viable, Griessel said.
"People are getting back to reality. They realize they don't need all the square footage. They want a really smart design, but a smaller home," he said.
The private sector might not be the only area in Charles County in need of further development, according to U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Millard Firebaugh of the Center for Energetic Concepts Development, part of the University of Maryland, College Park.
According to Firebaugh, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division is in need of a thorough renovation, including a new power plant to replace its antiquated steam plant.
"[There is] an outmoded steam heating power plant, outmoded structures. … The whole architecture of the base needs to be redone," he said.
Charles County has the potential to be at the center of energetics research if it provides up-to-date facilities and fosters a creative professional community, he said. The field needs "highly educated scientists and engineers, intellectual stimulation and an organized community constantly exposed to new ideas," he said.
Fortunately, there is hope for facilities upgrade at the base because about $150 million in military construction is funded for the coming year, with another $34 million coming from the Base Realignment and Closure program, he said.
"Whew, that's a lot of money," he said.
See related stories
- ACPT to sell for $43 million
- ACPT sells apartment stake in Puerto Rico
- ACPT agrees on sales, issues 10 cent dividend
