This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CONTROVERSIAL Sydney property developer Jean Nassif’s Toplace has placed two companies into receivership.
KordaMentha has been appointed as the receivers and managers of 51 OCHR and JKN Finance. Nassif is a director of both companies.
The move will impact the five towers 900-apartment Castle Hill development, of which two buildings have been completed whilst the remaining three are under construction.
“The Castle Hill project is partially completed, with two of its residential towers occupied and three towers still under construction,” KordaMentha said.
“The receivers advised work will cease at Castle Hill, while the site is secured, to ensure it is safe.
“They will work with creditors and stakeholders to determine a strategy to enable construction of the remaining three towers as expeditiously as possible,” the advisory firm said.
In December last year Nassif and Toplace were forced to find another builder to deliver its projects after its building licence was permanently revoked.
The move followed a lengthy investigation by the NSW Department of Fair Trading, which also suspended Toplace’s founder Jean Nassif from holding a building licence for 10 years.
The department’s investigation uncovered over 40 alleged defects in residential developments including the Atmosphere and Skyview at Castle Hill in Sydney’s north-west, and the Vicinity in the city’s inner west suburb of Canterbury.
At the time, Nassif and Toplace said they would challenge the bans.
“Toplace has always stood by its projects and where defects have occurred it has returned to fix them like all other major developers.”
Toplace has clashed repeatedly with the government and NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler over alleged defects.
In July last year after it agreed to be liable for any current and future defects across almost 1,000 apartments at its $900 million Skyview development in Castle Hill in exchange for Commissioner David Chandler lifting its prohibition order.
The agreement came after Commissioner Chandler issued an order preventing buyers in two of the five towers from moving in after inspectors uncovered structural defects in the basements of the first two completed apartments.
In order for the order to be lifted, Toplace founder Jean Nassif signed an agreement, backed by an $11 million security guarantee – the first agreement of its kind in NSW. The legally enforceable agreement will mean an independent engineer will monitor the structure of the basement over the next 10 years with the owners corporation receiving a 20-year structural guarantee and a 10 year commitment to amend and cover the costs of any future defects.
Meanwhile last week Nassif put a prized 1.64-hectare industrial and development site in the tightly-held area around Sydney Airport to the market, with expectations exceeding $100 million.
