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AHC managing director Rod MacLeod is bewildered but trying to extract positives from the barrage of bureaucracy that has delayed his company’s residential and commercial projects on the Gold Coast.
The company has endured a three-year delay on its mixed-use Saltwater development at Helensvale, where 11 lots are still to sell in the latest stage after seven potential buyers forfeited deposits. Land lots averaging 600 sq m are selling for $230,000.
MacLeod says exorbitant PIP charges also resulted in the loss of sales on its 12 commercial lots within the project.
“Council concerns over a fence has cost us around $5 million in sales, interest and holding costs due to unnecessary delays,” he says.
“I don’t know why Gold Coast City Council would want to stone dead new investment in the region, but we want to move on now and focus our attention on completing our shopping centre at Gympie.”
MacLeod believes the $27 million project has the capacity to become ‘another jewel in the crown’ for the company, similar to its $35 million Worongary Shopping Centre.
“It’s almost a direct replica and it’s in line with our business model to build strong a cash flow base from the centre as we have been able to do with Worongary,” he says.
AHC bounced back from a disappointing result in FY10 to record a $384,382 net profit for the December half. It compares to losses of $208,000 on the corresponding period last year
The group sold its Caltex service station on Siganto Drive at Helensvale for $6.3 million, contributing to its return to profit despite a 53 per cent slide in revenue to $2.16 million.
AHC sales for the calendar year are down 42 per cent due to market conditions and delays for approvals on Saltwater and its 26ha Dundowran Industrial Subdivision at Hervey Bay.
The company’s head office is on a prime 200sqm site on Siganto Drive next to the M1.
AHC’s is not the only developer exiting the Gold Coast. Norm Rix is also planning to withdraw future plans with seven of his projects in dispute.
In the latest ‘bureaucracy gone mad’ debacle, Rix’s Upper Coomera project has been derailed as GCCC request that a large portion of the land ($1.2 million) be conserved for owl habitat where dead trees are standing.
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