DeTrafford’s Gallery Gardens up for sale
The outcome for individuals who have paid a combined £2.1m for Manchester apartments that have never been built is uncertain, while funders are aiming to claw back £36m from the beleaguered developer’s web of companies.
BDO – the administrator for SPVs DeTrafford Regiment Limited and DeTrafford Gallery Gardens Block A Limited – is seeking a buyer for part of the site, which is located off Ellesmere Street and Hulme Hall Road and has planning permission for a 366-apartment scheme.
The two vehicles control part of the Gallery Gardens site. The ownership extends to the plot where one of the blocks, comprising 195 apartments, would have been constructed.
Gallery Gardens Block A Limited owns a 44-year leasehold on part of the site. DeTrafford Regiment Limited owns the freehold on the remainder.
Manchester City Council owns the freehold to the other half of the scheme, earmarked for a 171-flat block.
DeTrafford had signed a 150-year development agreement with Manchester City Council to bring the scheme forward. However, this agreement has now expired, according to BDO.
The administrator estimates the value of the land controlled by the two vehicles to be somewhere between £1.5m and £4m. Roger Hannah is advising BDO on the sales process.
Who’s owed what?
Lender Daiwa is owed £25.1m by the two companies – £2.7m in the form of a direct loan to facilitate the Gallery Gardens project and £22.4m by way of cross guarantees against other DeTrafford projects.
Another lender, Maslow is owed £11m by the Gallery Gardens vehicles by way of cross guarantees against other DeTrafford projects.
Unsecured creditors are owed £7.2m by the two companies, the majority of which is intercompany debt.
JM Architects, which designed the scheme, is owed £200,000 of this.
More than 80 of the flats have been sold off-plan and £2.1m of deposits has been paid, according to BDO.
Gallery Gardens was approved by Manchester City Council under delegated powers in May 2020.
The project had previously been refused by the planning committee.
Since approval was granted, no work has taken place.
When BDO was appointed in February, the two SPVs became the fifth and sixth DeTrafford vehicles to collapse in recent months.
BDO has also been appointed as administrator over the vehicles behind St George’s Gardens, Sky Gardens, and City Gardens.
These three schemes are all complete and form part of DeTrafford’s Manchester Gardens masterplan. Together, the developments provide more than 400 homes.
Administrators were appointed on the completed projects after DeTrafford fell behind on loan repayments due to being unable to sell some of the apartments.
Kroll was appointed as administrator over another development, Wavelength, last year. The site in Salford Quays has permission for a 400-home development but work has never started.
What are the other DeTrafford projects that the Daiwa & Maslow have cross guarantees against for their loans ?
By WTF
Hi WTF. In the latest administration report, which can be viewed via this link – https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10213498/filing-history – states that Daiwa has a CG against Sky Gardens, while Maslow holds them against St George’s Gardens and City Gardens. Thanks, Dan
By Dan Whelan
There needs to be better control over all of these limited companies set up for single projects. I know limited companies are needed to promote risk taking in business, but some of these risks are just too large and not managed properly as they know the parent company and/or directors are ultimately safe….
By JB
Still time to have a rethink on those juliet balconies
By Balcony Warrior