Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Liquidator is not ready to ‘close the file’
The liquidator has not ruled out looking into the “historic operations” of the Clubs of Marlborough before “closing the file” on the defunct social club.
Malcolm Hollis, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, has released his latest report on the Clubs of Marlborough.
The report showed the new owner, Chris Thornley, paid $4.2 million for the premises. The Information Memorandum from Bayleys, which had the listing, said it was worth $22m.
However, Hollis reiterated that Thornley’s bid was the highest by a ”significant margin”. Rangitāne o Wairau explored the sale, but did not proceed with the purchase.
At the time of the sale, Hollis said people had described the property as a “white elephant” that needed a lot of money spent on it. Thornley, shortly after getting the keys, said it was “too big of a beast” for the clubs. He had not long sold Springlands Lifestyle Village to Metlifecare when he bought the clubs.
Hollis’ report, his second six-monthly report, showed ANZ Bank got $3.79m back after the clubs sale, and it was still owed about $700,000, but it had “written that off”, according to Hollis.
The report showed the bridge club was paid $100,000 to cancel its “purported” 99-year lease. The bridge club claimed it was owed $340,000.
The $100,000 cost meant Hollis could sell the building “free of hindrance”, which could have decreased its value, he said.
Meanwhile, former employees claimed they were owed $136,000.
“If we had a surplus after the bank got its money we would have confirmed all those [claims] ... but that fact is we didn’t have to ... so there’s no point pontificating on that stuff.
“That’s not to say [the claims] weren’t valid, they probably were.”
Hollis added that his “IT guy in Blenheim” had taken all the Clubs records from the Cloud and put them on a hard drive.
His report said the liquidators would “review the files, looking into the actions of the management and investigate if any economical claims can be made in respect of the historic operations and decisions of the Club”.
But speaking this month, he said legal action was “unlikely”. His plan was to “let
the dust settle on the sale ... [and] see if anything else sort of appears”.
“We’ve got the records stored away.” “It’s probably unlikely we will take further legal action against people, but that said we have not closed the file yet.”
The Clubs of Marlborough, built in 2007, closed its doors at the end of 2022 due to multimillion-dollar debt and declining revenue. At the time of closing, it had about 4000 members and employed 50 staff. The Marlborough RSA vacated the building at the same time.
Thornley told the Marlborough Express earlier this month that his newly-formed family company Alfred Taylor Developments intended to develop a new hotel and wine hub, with a “wine and food tasting centre” on the first floor, and a restaurant and bar for evening dining.
Alfred Taylor Developments was also in negotiations with the Marlborough District Council about buying the former Marlborough Club site, which is beside the Marlborough Events Centre, to develop a 120bed hotel.