The company behind the Mountview Green housing project in Rotorua is in liquidation and receivership.
The company behind the Mountview Green housing project in Rotorua is in liquidation and receivership.
Inland Revenue, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Fletcher Distribution, ITM, Genesis Energy and Resene Paints are just some of the creditors of the insolvent company finishing Rotorua’s Mountview Green housing estate.
Waterstone Insolvency liquidators released a list of secured and unsecured creditors of Marcus Jacobson’s RotoWhare.
The company was finishing the last of 86 homes in the project when American funders had receivers appointed and Jacobson called in liquidators.
Many local and national businesses are creditors, according to Damien Grant and Adam Botterill’s first report.
But the biggest debt is owned to an American business: Florida-headquartered financier Quaestor Advisors LLC of Jacksonville is owed $28.2 million.
Secured creditors include Mico New Zealand, Carters Building Supplies, United Timber Merchants, waterproofers H2OFF Central and Albany’s Blomfield Consulting.
Stage one of the Mountview Green housing development in Ian St, Koutu. Photo / Supplied
But a real estate agency, building material suppliers and trade businesses are also on two lists.
What prospect there is of unsecured creditors recovering any money is unclear at this stage, with the initial report unable to say what assets Roto Whare has.
Tile Warehouse of Onehunga, Hamilton’s ZSL Kitchens, Waste Management of East Tāmaki, Rotorua’s Redwood Joinery, RPC Contractors of Fairy Springs and Wiri business The Roofing Store are listed at the end of the report issued on Friday.
Highbrook’s Franklin Plumbers & Builders Supplies, Fairy Springs Rd’s Hanson Heating, McDowell Real Estate of Rotorua, the city’s Total Door Systems and Specialised Plastering & Painting as well as Foster Concrete Construction appear.
Rotorua’s Goodrick Contracting, Huntly’s Metra Panel Systems, Ōamaru accountants McKenzie & Co, Masada Manufacturing of Cambridge, Rotorua’s Aaron Dean Plumbing, Ace Drainlaying, accountants Carter & Associates in Ellerslie and Design Enviro Waste Services also appear.
No assets are listed so far.
“It is unknown whether there will be sufficient realisable assets to enable a distribution to any class of creditors. Because of this, the liquidators are unable to estimate the quantum or rate in terms of cents on the dollar of a distribution to any class of creditor.”
Stage one of the Mountview Green housing development in Ian St, Koutu.
Two Jacobson companies also appear as unsecured creditors: Watchman Residential and Watchman Capital.
Unsecured creditors are estimated to be owed $163,000 although nothing has been verified yet and no audit carried out of who’s owed what.
Receiver Neale Jackson last week said Mountview Green stage two between Frank St and Emma Alley was 60 homes:
The receivers’ initial report is yet to be issued.
Steve Lovegrove, general manager of Eves Eastern Bay of Plenty, said last week 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 now under construction were not under contract, Lovegrove said, although he believes they will all be finished.
In 2021, the Rotorua Daily Post reported district development deputy chief executive Jean-Paul Gaston saying this was an example of a good higher-density development.
“The Mountview Green developments at Ian St and Frank St are a really great example of what we should be seeing in Rotorua in the near future. Higher-density builds that are an efficient use of space, in already established neighbourhoods.
“This will be a real benefit to the community, and is the type of development that we want to be seeing across the district,” Gaston said three years ago.
Mountview Green developer and director of Watchman Capital Marcus Jacobson said in 2021 he was “really excited about moving on to the next stage of builds at Frank St”.
“Working with council has been really collaborative and we’re pleased to be able to bring a new type of development to the market, with the different home typologies that council and the community are looking for.
KiwiBuild homes within the development would ensure first-home buyers could purchase.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
