Developers will break ground Monday on a massive office park on Army land at Aberdeen Proving Ground, despite state officials’ concerns about lost property-tax revenues.

Opus East LLC will start construction Monday on the Government and Technology Enterprise project, a 200-acre office and research park to be located just inside the fence at Aberdeen Proving Ground and aimed at the defense contractors who work closely with the military.

“We think we’re building the pre-eminent business park for this kind of user, and we do have the advantage of being behind the fence,” said Scott Brody, vice president and general manager of Rockville-based Opus East.

Instead of paying rent for the land, Opus will build and maintain its own facilities and roads, as well as other infrastructure improvements or building projects requested by the Army, Brody said.

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Business consultant Joseph Oricchio said some of his clients were worried about the GATE project having lower rents because of the lease, but Ron Descheneaux, senior director of Opus government programs, said rents had to be based upon the real estate market.

Because the GATE project will be built on federal land, the developer and tenants won’t have to pay state or local property taxes, and that has raised major issues with another leasing project at Fort Meade.

The state is considering legislation that would allow the Army to make payments to local governments instead of taxes.

Opus is negotiating with several large government contractors that were interested in moving to Aberdeen or expanding their operations in the area, Brody said. The names were not released.

APG will be the middle-man and will handle payment for the services even though the office park will draw upon water and sewer service provided by the city of Aberdeen, Descheneaux said.

Opus will break ground on the first 60,000-square-foot research and development building Monday, with a planned completion in summer 2008, said Brody. An 80,000-square-foot office building will be started soon after, and a third will begin in 2008.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com