Investors seek to iron out final issues at 1,000-home Infinity
A group of investors in the stalled Liverpool scheme claims it is close to getting the former Elliot Group project back on track more than a year after acquiring the freehold of the Leeds Road site out of administration.
Infinity, comprising 1,000 apartments across three towers and reaching 38 storeys at its tallest point, stalled in 2020.
In a statement to Place North West, the investor group – Infinity Developments Propco – said it is now applying to the courts for the removal of a lease over part of the site that is proving to be an obstacle.
An application to the court for the removal of the lease, held by Elliot Group director Eliott Lawless, is “imminent”, according to the group. Place contacted Lawless for comment.
The investors hope removing the lease will mark a big step forward in recouping the money they have put into the development to date.
The group is now assessing its options, which include “building out the towers with a suitable independent third party, or selling on the site to recoup all or part of the circa £30m that Infinity investors lost,” the statement said.
The investor group almost missed out on the site when administrator Begbies Traynor exchanged contracts with Liverpool-based developer Legacie in October 2021.
However, Infinity Developments Propco – whose directors are Cormac Murphy, Audrey Odell, Paul Roberts, and William Sutherland – submitted a last-gasp bid for the site later that month.
A court hearing in April 2022 approved the sale of the site to the investor group for £5.9m after the administrator decided the offer represented the best value for creditors.
“As a group of shareholders, we have proved to be highly resilient, motivated and determined to see this through to a satisfactory and justifiable conclusion,” the statement said.
The consortium is made up of 212 of the original 273 Infinity investors.
Investors that chose not to be a part of the consortium that ultimately acquired the site will receive £965,000 between them, around 18% of their original investment, according to the report.
