Work stops as Hartner collapse claims another victim

By ANNE GIBSON

A West Auckland apartment block being developed by 80s high-flyer Rod Petricevic has fallen victim to the Hartner Construction collapse.

Hartner Construction was building the 76-unit block in Westward Ho, a cul de sac off West Coast Rd in Kelston.

The developer is Goodman Properties, owned by Bridgecorp Holdings, which tried unsuccessfully for sharemarket listing last year.

Mr Petricevic is former chairman of Euro-National, a high-profile casualty of the 1987 sharemarket crash.

Work on the five-level apartment building was only about a third of the way through when Hartner Construction went into receivership on February 1.

Receiver John Waller singled out the job as one of only two he could not restart about a fortnight after the collapse.

But Mr Petricevic says it is not his fault that the site is idle: "We've issued a notice giving them the required number of 10 working days to get on with it, but the site is still locked up.

"We are unable to do anything at this moment because we have a valid contract."

The apartments are due to be finished by July 31. A spokesman for Goodman said yesterday that work had not restarted, which would mean the 50 buyers would have to delay moving in.