A developer that was meant to build 36 apartments on this Victoria St site for Kāinga Ora has been placed into liquidation. Main photo / Kelly Makiha
A developer that was meant to build 36 apartments on this Victoria St site for Kāinga Ora has been placed into liquidation. Main photo / Kelly Makiha
Realm Victoria Ltd partnered with Kāinga Ora to build 36 apartments in Rotorua but has been placed into liquidation.
Venture Developments, a sub-contractor, claims it wasn’t paid and took Realm Victoria to court.
Kāinga Ora says the next steps for the site are being assessed.
An Auckland-based development company that went into partnership with Kāinga Ora to build 36 apartments in Rotorua has gone bust.
Realm Victoria Ltd has been placed into liquidation and the construction of the apartments on Victoria St, near Rotorua Central, is up in the air.
Kāinga Ora bought the siteat 40 Victoria St, between Ruihi and Herewini Sts, in February 2023 for $3.9 million.
Resource consent for 15 two-bedroom and 21 one-bedroom apartments was granted and the site was cleared by Tauranga-based sub-contractor Venture Developments last year, and little appears to have been done since.
Venture Developments said it wasn’t paid for the work and took Realm Victoria to court.
Realm Victoria claims to be in an “unresolved payment dispute” with Kāinga Ora – but Kāinga Ora maintains Realm Victoria Ltd has not raised any payment disputes.
Realm Victoria shareholders and directors Kerry Hitchcock and his son Alex Hitchcock are connected to a property management company put into liquidation in March.
Four companies directed by Kerry Hitchcock met the same end in recent years.
Realm Victoria Ltd’s deal with Kāinga Ora, which was a private deal not put out for tender, would have seen ownership of the apartments transferred to Kāinga Ora once building work was completed.
Kerry Hitchcock of Haven. Photo / Janna Dixon
The company went into liquidation on May 12 and Danielle Cameron of insolvency firm Khov Jones has been appointed the liquidator.
It is not yet known what the company owes and who the creditors are.
Cameron has been approached for comment.
Kāinga Ora housing delivery general manager Caroline McDowall said the next steps for the Victoria St site were being assessed.
“As decisions are made, we will keep stakeholders and the community informed.”
She said Kāinga Ora was unable to comment on contractual terms while the liquidation process was under way.
Work on 36 new apartments on Victoria St in Rotorua has stalled. Photo / Kelly Makiha
“Payment under the contract has been made for all work delivered to date, which includes initial earthworks, civils and infrastructure.”
The 36 apartments were meant to be ready by the start of 2026.
McDowall said there had been a significant build programme in Rotorua with 160 new state homes built in the year ending April, and a further 196 state homes under construction due to be completed by the middle of this year.
“Kāinga Ora is confident it will meet its housing delivery targets for this financial year.”
An artist's impression of what the Victoria St apartments were to look like.
The Rotorua Daily Post asked Kāinga Ora in April how it came to partner with Realm Victoria and whether it knew of Kerry Hitchcock’s association with previous failed companies.
At that time, McDowall said developers generally approached Kāinga Ora directly with homes for sale and Kāinga Ora always carried out due diligence before signing contracts.
She said contracts were conditional, with Kāinga Ora buying the homes once they were completed and contract requirements met. The developer was responsible for all consenting, siteworks and construction.
McDowall said the contract with Realm Victoria was performance-based, which she said mitigated Kāinga Ora’s potential financial risk by splitting payment across a number of stages. Payment for each stage is made once the developer has met predetermined delivery milestones.
What the new Victoria St apartments were to look like.
She said Realm Victoria was responsible for managing subcontractor relationships, not Kāinga Ora.
Venture Developments chief executive Jarod Thorpe said its payment dispute with Realm Victoria had not been resolved.
Its court hearing date was May 9, where Realm Victoria was placed into liquidation.
Thorpe said he would make no further comment, given the commercial sensitivity.
The Hitchcocks said in a statement through a communications company that Realm Victoria Ltd had a significant payment dispute with Kāinga Ora leading up to its liquidation, which remained unresolved.
Who are the developers?
Alex and Kerry Hitchcock are the directors and majority shareholders of Realm Victoria Ltd.
Alex Hitchcock is the director of property management company Haven Living Management, which has gone into liquidation over reported unpaid rent to landlords in excess of $850,000, according to BusinessDesk.
The company’s sole shareholder was Haven Funds Management, of which Kerry Hitchcock was the sole director.
The father and son are also the sole owners of other interests – Fidelta Group, Proventus Group and Realm Property Group.
The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) last year asked the High Court to put Haven Living, Fidelta Group and other companies, including Realm Victoria, into liquidation in a bid to recover unpaid taxes. Haven Living told the NZ Herald in February that action never went ahead as the IRD had been paid in full.
Companies Office records show Kerry Hitchcock was a director of four housing development companies put into liquidation in the past four years – Ormiston Rise Development, Warkworth Developments, Warkworth Holdings and Lakefront Investments.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
