Deal for stalled DeTrafford development falls through

Soller Group had been lined up to acquire the developer’s failed Wavelength project at Salford Quays but the deal fell out of bed despite the courts giving it the green light to progress.

The site, which has planning permission for 421 flats, is now back on the market as the four-year anniversary of the project collapsing into administration approaches.

It had been hoped the sale of the site to Soller Group would recoup some of the £15m owed to creditors following the failure of DeTrafford Wavelength Limited, the special purpose vehicle set up to deliver the scheme.

Of the £15m owed, almost £11m was in the shape of deposits for unbuilt flats paid by around 300 investors. £4m was owed to lender Whitecraig Limited.

A letter was sent to creditors recently to inform them that the sale to Soller had fallen through despite administrator Kroll obtaining court approval to clear the title and progress with the disposal.

The letter said that the administrator had served a notice to complete within 10 days. Soller came back with a proposal to push the completion back 12 months, which Kroll said was “plainly unacceptable”.

As a result, Kroll told creditors that it “no longer considers that the proposed purchaser would be willing or able to complete the proposed sale of the property and, therefore, consider that to continue to pursue that sale would not be in the interests of the creditors of the company”.

Soller and Kroll were contacted for comment.