A partially-built $85 million Onehunga apartment block is under conditional sale, giving hope it might be completed after construction stalled nearly a year ago.
Since last April, the 85-unit, six-level Beachcroft Residences on Beachcroft Ave have lain idle after head contractor Teak Construction left.
Matt Currie of Crux Partners, theproject manager for Beachcroft Residences, said a possible sale was being negotiated.
“The property has been conditionally sold with the purchaser undertaking due diligence at present,” Currie said.
All 50 parties who paid 10 per cent deposits had been repaid their money so their sale and purchase agreements had become null and void, he said. That was at the behest of buyers who were keen to get properties they could settle on and live in.
Construction ceased last April when Teak left, with units languishing for months.
In 2017, deposits were taken and the building work started in 2018 but the project, by local art retailers Anne and Bruce Clegg’s Erson Developments, was dogged with difficulties and named by some as the area’s Faulty Towers.
“All construction work has ceased and Teak Construction Group will now begin the process of demobilising from site,” Currie said last April.
Erson said the termination of the contract was because of Erson’s issues “and is not due to any default or failure by Teak”.
Teak refused to comment last year.
The Beachcroft Residences, covered in protective wrap.
About 50 of the 85 units had been pre-sold but Currie refused to say how much money had been taken from buyers to date.
“The building has been wrapped to provide protection against the elements. The superstructure of the building is completed, and the roof has been installed. Sales of the apartments commenced in 2017 and were put on hold in early 2021 given the ongoing delays,” Currie said last year.
Buyers who put down 10 per cent would get their money back if they wanted to, he said last year.
All contractors, subcontractors and consultants were paid up to date. There was no dispute with Teak, he said at the time.
But the project had taken significantly longer to design and consent than Erson had originally contemplated. That has caused significant delays which have cost implications, particularly in a market where construction costs are rising rapidly, Currie said.
“Subject to completing the design and consent process, engaging a main contractor and dealing with any supply chain issues, we estimate that the project could be completed in approximately 18-24 months.”
Companies Office records show Erson Developments is still a live company.
The Cleggs marketed their block in 2017, saying units there would be affordable. The Herald reported then that units with prices of $595,000 and $620,000 were selling at Beachcroft.
Bayleys Real Estate One Tree Hill manager Glenn Baker said this was one of only a few residences offering a number of homes in the “affordable” end of the market.
The remainder of the one-, two- and three-bedroom properties were priced between $695,000 and $1.3 million, she was reported as saying in 2017.
Erson is 90 per cent owned by the Cleggs’ Erson Holdings and 10 per cent by Triplex management of Whitford. It’s called Erson because that has a connection to the name of the street where the Cleggs live.
Beachcroft Ave was the street that flooded badly last month and a bus was filmed driving through water.
The video, shared by Maungakiekie Tamaki Local Board member Debbie Burrows, showed the bus making its way down Beachcroft Ave past cars submerged by the floods that rose quickly after heavy rains lashed the city again early this morning.
Passengers can be seen standing inside the bus to escape water flowing through as the driver sits barely above the level of the wave pushed out by his near-amphibious vehicle.
Currie of Crux said Beachcroft Apartments were not on the part of the street which was filmed.
“The photo of the bus was taken at the western end of Beachcroft Ave near Pah Rd and the Onehunga Bay Reserve. This area was closed to flooding for a number of days. The flooding did not damage the Beachcroft property,” Currie said.
