A COMPANY that wanted to build a major business park on Goulburn’s outskirts has been placed in receivership.
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The Southern Distribution Hub off Mountain Ash Rd was once touted as a $1 billion investment over 15 years with the promise of 2500 jobs.
But all this was dashed just days before last Christmas when external receiver Macquarie Gordon Corporate Reorganisation was appointed to the company, Southern Distribution Hub Pty Ltd.
Project director Bob Stephens said he had no idea of the final debt but said it was “in the millions.”
The receiver also declined to state the figure.
Mr Stephens said Goldman Sachs bank took over the debt from Suncorp last August and then called it in within a month.
“We are disappointed but that is the way of the world,” he said.
“Banks stick with you as long as you’re performing.”
Local agent Peter Mylonas and CBRE are marketing the 263- hectare parcel spanning the northern and southern sides of Mountain Ash Rd, close to the Windellama Rd junction.
They were also appointed before Christmas. It is being pitched as an approved integrated logistics, service, warehouse and distribution park adjacent to the Hume Highway.
However a question mark hangs over the existing approval.
The land covers 13 separate titles and may be sold as one lot, in groups or individually.
Expressions of interest close on March 5.
Mr Stephens said the project had failed to attract sufficient backing.
“We’ve been looking to get investors to come on board and while we’ve been able to get some, it hasn’t been enough,” he told the Post.
“I’m just hopeful that those who do take it on are interested in realising the original vision.”
The concept has been kicking around for the past eight years. When first flagged, it proposed to pump $170 million into the state and local economy by year 10 and $100m in public infrastructure by year fifteen.
The proponents wanted to entice warehousing, logistics and service industries to the site and once floated its future as a B-triple stop. A highway interchange was part of the original plan.
They bought up land in the area, sparking landholder concerns about the merits and economic viability of the proposal and ultimately, the state government approval process.
Its future came under a cloud when 50 per cent partner Mariner Financial Limited succumbed to the ‘financial crisis’ and offloaded its share in 2009/10.
Mr Stephens said he and “other investors” (some of them he previously described as locals) then came on board.
Mariner’s annual report at the time revealed it had borrowed $17.5m to fund the business park and would seek to recover a $2m debt on any asset sale.
The project has not progressed substantially since then, despite a marketing campaign with Colliers International in 2011.
Mr Stephens said he and his partners would renounce any ownership stake if the land were sold.
“We have quite a lot of intellectual property attached to the property and we would willingly cooperate with any new investment,” he said.
“…We are out of pocket only to the extent we were involved over a long period, both emotionally and in terms of time but I’m sure someone will pick it up and develop it to the benefit of Goulburn. I’m optimistic.”
Principal at Macquarie Gordon Corporate reorganisation, Gus Gordon said he was unaware of any other factors that had sparked the receivership, other than the bank’s debt.
“At the moment we are focused on maximising the return,” he said.
“My appointers (Goldman Sachs) are very reasonable people so if we can find an investor to work with Bob (Stephens) to bring about that original dream, then we’re more than happy to do so.”
Mr Gordon said it was advantageous to have the land on separate titles as it gave options for its development.
But he believed a large business park could also benefit Goulburn.
The Hub site is being marketed all around Australia.