Tauranga's massive Lakes subdivision, now in receivership, has been valued at a third of the amount owing to Bank of Scotland International.
It's understood the recent valuation was set at about $30 million, and the bank is owed $100 million by the developer, Grasshopper Farms, which went into receivership on February 25.
The valuation was completed by Auckland-based CBRE and the valuer involved would not make any comment on it.
The receiver Grant Graham, from Kordamentha, is expected to outline the next moves for the subdivision within a week.
He has had meetings with Tauranga City Council to work through consent and other development issues, and came away happy.
"The Lakes doesn't have the complications like other big developments," Mr Graham said. "It makes our job easier, not to have to jump through 20 hoops."
He said the development was huge - "it's 4.8km from the front to the back gate" - and it's a case of working out how best to maximise value in the present market.
Mr Graham said it might be better to sell The Lakes in parts rather than as a whole.
"Whatever the ultimate solution, it has to be agreed with the bank. We are very much aware of keeping the development moving forward.
"This is a good development with good prospects and we have to allow it to flourish," said Mr Graham. The receiver's first official report is due on May 2.
Bank of Scotland International, the first mortgagor, made a loan of $80 million to Grasshopper Farms, and late payment fees and penalties had risen to nearly $20 million.
The CBRE valuation is likely to have been made on the unsold sections - believed to be more than 150 in stage two - the latest infrastructure work, the consents already in place and the undeveloped farmland in stage three, planned to take 1480 sections.
The 250 hectare Lakes residential community at Pyes Pa west - being developed along Kopurererua Valley over 10 years - would total 2100 sections and house about 6000 people in a mixture of stand-alone homes, townhouses and a retirement village.
The new suburb - with 120 ha of passive and recreational reserves and roading, and a proposed 3.5ha neighbourhood shopping centre - is an urban design model for Western Bay.
It is also one of the biggest developments in the country, costing about $400 million to build and having a completed value of more than $1 billion.
The receivers have retained Grasshopper planning and development manager, Simon Maxwell, to keep selling sections, and have made arrangements to keep the subdivision maintained.
"We have to keep moving the sections currently available to create cash, and we have to keep it in a positive shape," said Mr Graham. Local developers and builders approached by the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend said they had not spoken with the receiver - and one had tried to make contact.
Another said the receiver was staying firm with section prices - they were available at the listed price. One issue was that some sections in stage two were sloping and up to $30,000 worth of retaining work needed to be done.
"If the buyer was picking up those costs, then the present price was too high," he said.
Bank owed $100m but Lakes valuation only $30m
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