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A $250 million development beside a former Salvation Army camp at Snells Beach has collapsed, leaving a partly built luxury housing estate and many angry buyers.
Whisper Cove was to be a 160-residence 16ha waterfront development. It was started by Tim Manning, who built many of Auckland's largest leaky-house complexes.
But just 36 units were built and the site has been abandoned for months after big money problems, leaving a string of subcontractors, builders and others owed more than $2 million.
Whisper Cove, which Mr Manning sold two years ago to Canterbury-born Lance Hodgkinson of Australia for $215 million, is in receivership owing $36 million to Westpac and $17 million to other financiers.
This is the second big housing subdivision north of Auckland to go to the wall lately, after news emerged this week of the collapse of $450 million, 750-house Kensington Park.
Plans for more than 600 houses at both Orewa and Snells Beach are now dashed as receivers become developers and try to finish dozens of partly built houses and apartments.
BNZ loaned $41 million for Kensington Park and Westpac has a first mortgage over Whisper Cove, but how much money the banks can extract from the doomed ventures is now up to KordaMentha, the receivers trying to rescue both projects.
Australian investor Babcock & Brown helped Westpac fund Whisper Cove along with Dominion Finance.
Stage-one Whisper Cove residences were marketed from $850,000 to $2.6 million and Kalmar Projects was in charge of building.
Grant Graham of KordaMentha says the company is getting good advice about options available for the development and a decision is likely in about a month.
Unsecured creditors are owed $2,452,000 but Brendon Gibson, joint receiver, said it was unlikely they would get a cent.
