Lender’s pain on Lancs property deal
ADMINISTRATORS handling the collapse of a Preston developer say they do not expect to recover enough cash to pay off its main creditor.
The directors behind Point Developments (North West) borrowed £1.1m from the Yorkshire Bank to acquire and develop Friargate Point in the city.
Stephen Sayers and James Short obtained outline planning permission to turn the site into a five-storey block with 43 flats and retail space.
But administrators were appointed to Point Developments and Mr Sayers’ other business, the Dolphin Developments Group, last month before the plans could be realised.
In a recently filed report joint administrators from the insolvency firm Begbies Traynor said they do not expect to raise enough cash to settle the Yorkshire Bank debt.
They have hired the chartered surveyor Eddisons to market the site but refused to disclose a sale value, fearing it could prejudice a future deal.
If there is no interest they will consider, “either an immediate disposal at a reduced level via an auction or a medium-term holding strategy”.
A separate report showed that Yorkshire Bank also appointed administrators to Mr Sayers’ other business, Blackpool-based Dolphin Developments Group. Dolphin, which owned and rented six properties in the Preston area, owed the bank around £200,000.
