KEY POINTS:
A high-flying developer's dream to build an exclusive hilltop suburb in Auckland appears to have been abandoned.
More than a dozen homes in swanky St Heliers have lain empty for years after being bought for millions of dollars by Greg Olliver.
Some of the houses in Glover Rd
are boarded up. One is overgrown with vines and defaced with graffiti. Another has had its metal guttering ripped off.
Now mortgagee sale signs have appeared on two of the properties.
Olliver's BBG Trust owns at least a dozen homes in Glover Rd and at least eight more properties in nearby Waimarie St. A number of the houses in Waimarie St have been demolished, leaving empty sections with stunning sea views.
The original development was to have included up to 20 luxury units as well as a mansion for Olliver himself. He has a home on top of the hill in Waimarie St with a view across Glover Park to the palatial $20 million home owned by Graeme and Robyn Hart.
Although retaining a position on NBR's Rich List this year - equal 40th with an estimated fortune of $200m - it has not been smooth sailing for Olliver recently.
Todd Capital, which already owned half of Olliver's Landco Land Developments, bought the rest of the company from Olliver in July.
Landco's projects include the Stonefields development at the former Mt Wellington quarry, and proposed large-scale developments at Long Bay and Northland's Ngunguru Spit.
Another of Olliver's concerns, The Pheonix Trust, has been placed in receivership.
Olliver did not return Herald on Sunday calls. A colleague described him as "an extremely private person.
"He doesn't speak to the media personally. It's just part of his nature."
A resource consent was approved in November last year for a scaled-down version of Olliver's development, consisting of two apartment blocks containing four residential units each.
Olliver was given five years to implement the consent, although there is speculation that the application has been shelved.
Nick Roberts from planning consultants Barker & Associates, which has been involved in the project, said he was not sure whether it was still going ahead.
"There's been no progress on the project for a while."
Wayne McCarthy from Barfoot & Thompson confirmed two houses owned by BBG Trust were listed for mortgagee tender. "There are only two, but that could change at any time," he said.
Neighbours and Eastern Bays Community Board members who were spoken to by the Herald on Sunday were also in the dark over Olliver's plans.
