By ANNE BESTON
A company involved in a multimillion-dollar development on Auckland's waterfront has collapsed and the city's cut-throat building market is being blamed.
Goodall ABL is a medium-sized construction company and the main contractor on Princes Wharf's Shed 24, a 60-plus apartment block being built on the very edge of the wharf.
Penthouses in the block range from $1.1 million to $2 million and have all been sold, according to Kelland's Real Estate managing director Deborah Kelland, whose company is the leading agent for the project.
Goodall ABL Construction Ltd said yesterday that it was going into voluntary liquidation. The site was quiet and surrounded by security men. There have been rumours of financial problems with the company for some weeks.
Goodall ABL director John Greenwood would not comment on the company's liquidation but said he wanted to thank creditors who had been supportive over the past three weeks.
"I am terribly disappointed this has occurred."
He would not say how many staff were affected or how much money the company owed but said it had eight construction sites around Auckland.
Shed 24 developer David Henderson of Kitchener Group promised that the apartments would be completed on schedule.
"It's a very unfortunate thing. It's not good for Auckland's building industry because the company has been a name around town for a long time," he said.
"It will cost us more money to build the shed than it would have but we will honour our contracts."
Ms Kelland said the collapse of Goodall ABL was a result of the intensely competitive construction market and she did not expect it to put a dent in buyers' enthusiasm for waterfront real estate.
"This impacts on people from an emotional and perception point of view that somebody is not going to survive but it's a sign of the times and the competitive nature of the building industry," she said.
"It wasn't actually Princes Wharf that sent them broke."
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