Rotorua, where Mountview Green is being developed. Photo / Andrew Warner
A developer this month had a liquidator appointed to his company which owns land for the last stages of Rotorua housing scheme Mountview Green, with a receiver saying 42 homes are unsold or partly completed.
Neale Jackson of Calibre Partners said while the initial stages of the big housing scheme were completed and homes sold, 42 other places were at various stages of completion or sale.
Marcus Jacobson is the sole director and shareholder of Roto Whare, which owns the final stages of the scheme and this month had a liquidator appointed.
The Companies Office and a public notice shows that last Thursday, a special resolution of shareholders appointed Waterstone Insolvency’s Damien Grant to the company as liquidator.
Jacobson of Herne Bay is Roto Whare’s sole director and shareholder, the Companies Office also shows.
Last Friday, Neale Jackson and Daniel Stoneman of Calibre Partners were appointed receivers.
Initial reports on Mountview Green are yet to be issued.
“The development Roto Whare owns is known as Mountview Green. It consists of two stages,” Jackson said.
Stage one between Ian St and Mill St includes 26 homes.
“All the homes in this stage have been completed and sold,” Jackson added.
But most places in the second stage are not in that position.
“Stage two between Frank St and Emma Alley is made up of 60 homes: 18 are completed, sold and settled, 22 are completed but not settled and 20 are in various stages of construction,” Jackson said.
Jacobson told the Herald today the liquidation was related to financing issues unique to the development and it protects the interest of buyers.
“The 86-home project is close to completion with 95% of the properties sold or under contract, including those already completed and settled.
“We are hopeful that liquidation will allow development to complete quickly. The market for new homes in Rotorua is brisk and demand is continuing to run ahead of the ability of developments to build,” Jacobson said.
Mountview Green’s website advertises new family two-storey duplex and terraced freehold homes with three bedrooms and two bathrooms from $559,000, a six-minute drive from the town centre.
In 2021, the Rotorua Daily Post interviewed Jacobson about Mountview Green.
He cited “phenomenal” interest, “exceeding what we have ever seen in Auckland”.
Jacobson said since launching sales in March that year, hundreds of emails had been fielded and there were close to 4000 visits to the website.
About 130 inquiries had been lodged on the website less than a week since launching, he said.
The three-bedroom and two-bathroom houses ranged from standalone, duplex and terraced options, with a portion reserved for KiwiBuild. Prices were cited as being in the $600,000 range, with a number of Kiwibuild properties to be priced at $485,000.
Property records show the company Roto Whare owns 29 properties on Rose Cres, Emma Alley and Frank St, Rotorua.
Encumbrance information shows mortgages registered on titles in 2020 to an American business, Quaestar Advisors LLC.
Steve Lovegrove, general manager of Eves Eastern Bay of Plenty, said his agency had been advertising and selling Mountview Green homes: “There’s no need to panic. We don’t believe any purchasers will get caught short.”
Some deposits had been repaid because sunset clauses had passed, he said.
Most of the 20 homes under construction were not under contract although he believes they will all be finished.
In 2022, the Herald reported on receivers taking control of a 105-home under-construction Auckland housing project which surprised buyers in one of New Zealand’s larger, troubled residential schemes.
But having their contracts changed three days before those receivers were appointed has further startled some of those caught up in it.
Buyers of Ormiston’s new DDL (Delivering Dreams) housing project at Flat Bush told of a sudden company switch within three days of the receivership.
Buyers who contacted the Herald two years ago said their original longer-standing contracts were with DDL Estates, directed and owned – via his company Rua Whare – by Herne Bay resident Marcus Brian Jacobson of privately owned developer Watchman Capital.
The buyers were suddenly advised via a lawyer acting for DDL Estates they would instead be purchasing from DDL Homes Ormiston which they were told was a related party of DDL Estates.
Baker Tilly Staples Rodway Auckland’s July report on DDL Estates and Rua Whare (both in receivership and liquidation) shows preferential, secured and unsecured creditor claims of $34.5 million for Rua Whare of which Jacobson remains a director but not a shareholder.
Jacobson said at the time he had no involvement in the South Auckland project.
Liquidator Damien Grant expects losses to unsecured creditors but said: “From what I am aware of so far, there will be no loss to customers. There are only two houses that appear to have been sold but not completed. Both people have deposits with solicitors and those should be safe.”
In August, the Rotorua Daily Post reported how an independent panel had given the go-ahead for 202 homes at Ngongotahā in Rotorua.
Auckland developer Watchman Residential applied for resource consent under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 and approval, subject to conditions, for the first stage of the project has just been granted.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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