Sovereign a royal pain in the pocket
Anew chapter, perhaps the final one, is on the way in a property saga that started at Paradise Point glamour estate Sovereign Islands more than six years ago. The saga involves land on which plans for the islands’ first apartments, Sovereign Residences, were unveiled in 2018 and quickly stirred rabid opposition from residents.
Move ahead to today and the Royal Albert Cres holding remains vacant, with plans in 2022 by a new owner, Finite Properties, to fire up the apartment venture being aborted fairly quickly.
Finite paid a gutsy $12.65m for the 2566sq m of canal-front land, renamed the project Windsor on Royal Albert, but struggled to sell apartments that started at close to $5m.
The upshot was that more than $14m was accumulated in debt.
Receivers moved in and attempts to sell the three-title holding, even by auction nine months ago, have been fruitless.
The best tilt at the land, according to the agent who auctioned it, was $8m.
The holder of the first mortgage has stepped forward and a new auction bid is about to be mounted via two fellows who first looked for a buyer three years ago, Tony and Adam Grbcic, of Kollosche.
The ambitious venture has turned into a disaster for the two shareholders in Finite Properties, fellows who were out to ‘have a go’.
One, Brad Neale, has been forced to sell his home.
Meanwhile, a chap who was an original promoter of Sovereign Residences, Ian Chester, is facing fraud charges over the use of investors’ money and is at risk of going to jail.
Ian spruiked the planned apartments as an exclusive opportunity for the elite and downsizers ‘looking to live like a king or queen’.
There have been two major winners out of the apartments drama.
Mark Murray and Akiko Sho paid $4.78m for the canal-front land in 2019 and put it on the market in 2021 after the project failed to go ahead.
Their chances of the purchase price being recouped looked rosy at the time, with one source suggesting that if the holding was sold as three housing lots, it could be worth up to $6 million or so.
Mark and Akiko, a year later, received Finite’s $12.65m.
The Finite buy at $12.65m was an eye-opener to property watchers – the rate paid for each square metre was $1700 higher than any previous Sovereign land buy.
The first-mortgage holder is Wollongong’s PCL Money, linked to Martin Anstee, and which as of last year was owed $8m.
Robina resident Glenn Campbell’s Panoramic Capital Group lent $2.6m, not necessarily all on the Sovereign site, and has been repaid more than $2.7m. That said, Panoramic apparently is claiming around $1.2m more, courtesy of interest, rollover fees, and legal costs,
Brad sold his home to make repayments and the future of Finite partner Grant Fairley’s home is up in the air.
Meanwhile, another apartments-like plan has been given the thumbs up at Sovereign Islands – this one at the estate’s front gate.
Singaporean developer Ching Chiat Kwong intends building 10 luxury marina-front villas costing from $6m to $25m.