Julie Kimble of Opus

In September, the Opus Group unveiled plans to go full-bore into an as-yet-untried market–military housing. As GlobeSt.com reported at the time, the Minnetonka, MN-based developer is planning to take advantage of privatization legislation passed nearly eight years ago. It’s a very different niche than most, especially given the 50-year terms of each commitment made with the Federal government. And it’s a different niche for Opus as well, given the single-family nature of many of the projects. But the newly formed Opus Military Communities LLC is approaching the venture with a specific plan to overcome the obvious hurdles and tap into what it believes will be a billion-dollar-plus business. In an exclusive interview, vice president Julie Kimball, a 10-year Opus veteran, reviewed the marching orders.

GlobeSt.com: Have you ever done military housing before?

Kimble: No. We started looking at government projects about a year and a half ago. We had done some government work at the local, state and federal levels, and we decided it made sense to move into that sector. So we set up a separate company solely to pursue implementing and managing military-privatization contracts. It is a good business with a big, new potential client. And it’s not as cyclical as industrial, office or retail.