$850 million Gold Coast property project in receivership

One of the biggest property projects on the Gold Coast, the $850 million Oracle development, has been placed in the hands of receivers by its directors.

The twin tower development, which included 505 luxury apartments, a resort, retail and commercial office space, was being developed by a subsidiary of the Niecon Group, run by well-known Queensland property developers, the Nikiforides family.

Another Niceon development on the Gold Coast, the $90 million Nirvana by the Sea project, was also placed in the hands of receivers earlier this week.

Mark Mentha and Mark Korda of KordaMentha have been placed in charge of The Oracle and plan to continue operating the complex. The resort is up and running and the retail precinct has just opened.

KordaMentha head of property Berrick Wilson said the receivers would “continue to support and enhance the development” as they go about the process of settling apartment sales.

“The vast majority have been pre-sold and we will be working through the settlement process to deliver purchasers their apartments,” Wilson said in a statement.

“The financiers have funded the development to give certainty to the completion of the project and we expect pre-sale purchasers to honour their contractual obligations.”

The Gold Coast has been rattled by the collapse of a number of high-profiled projects after the last two years, as heavily leveraged developers were caught out by the GFC.

Niecon chief executive Con Nikiforides told the Gold Coast Bulletin earlier this week that his company was disappointed by the decision to appoint receivers to the Nirvana by the Sea development, and blamed the decision of lender BOS International to appoint receivers on the Irish banking crisis. BOS International’s parent, Lloyds Banking Group, has large exposures to the debt-stricken nation.